Storm's Helm
by MyDearWatson
Summary: Eighty years of sailing. Eighty years of mages. Eighty years of ever changing masters. Now in April of X792, Cordelia Murdock is determined to be the next and longest reigning Guild Master for Storm's Helm, surpassing even her father's time as master. But taking over such an energetic and long standing guild isn't always as easy as it looks. NO LONGER ACCEPTING OCS!
1. A Sailing Guild

**A/N: **Boom! A new story!

More notes after the chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

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**Chapter 1: A Sailing Guild**

**April 3, X792**

The bright morning sun broke through the early spring clouds, the water moving back and forth gently in the northwestern area of the ocean near the top tip of Fiore. Though, the inland could not currently be seen so far out in the deep blue waters. And though it was early spring, out on the waters and in the middle of the baking sun without shade, it made it feel more like the beginnings of summer. It had been a nice change of pace from the freezing cold waters that were closer to the country of Iceberg. Here in the middle in the vast emptiness of the ocean sailed a giant fleet of boats. This fleet consisted of ten vessels total, two specific vessels gaining the most attention. The first was the longest and largest ship within the fleet that was surrounded by eight other, slightly smaller boats. It was even larger than most of the ships within both Fiore's and Pergrande Kingdom's Naval Forces. All nine of these ships were connect by reinforced bridges, creating a rather large rectangular ring that moved as one. At the head of this ring was the second ship that caught immediate attention. This ship was covered in all white with gold embellishments, a large golden helm cracked down the middle with an 'S' appearing out from the crack placed at the very head of that ship. This fleet of ships happened to be known as Storm's Helm, an ever moving and always energetic legal guild.

While the guild has been around nearly eighty years now, the last few years have been rough for them due to its current form of management. The current master and captain of the ship really had no idea what he was doing and had simply been going for the title when he had gained the position. He had no true understanding of what a guild was supposed to be like and that made it hard from the rest of the crew to respect him and listen to him. And his pride was much too high for him to simply step down even when he knew things weren't going well. Though, today would be the day when everything would change for the guild. Cordelia Murdock would make damn sure of that.

Said twenty-six year old woman smirked as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, cracking her knuckles in determination as she thought about the fight she would be challenging shortly, "You gonna cheer me on today, Bones?" she asked, looking down at the large and bulking pit bull that sat next to her. The light gray hound panted happily, his pink tongue lolled out to the side. He licked his lips and barked up at her before the tongue fell back out the side of his mouth, "Good boy!" she smiled down at him, rubbing the top of his head playfully.

Cordelia looked back at herself in her full length mirror. Her neon green hair reached her hips in messy layers, her hair having a thick feel to it from all the wind and salt water always passing through it. Her ocean blue eyes held even more determination as she blew a few bangs out of her face. She had been training for years for this day, even when her father had been the master of the guild, so her body was toned, athletic and tanned. She had the right amount of curves with an average bust. She wore a simple blue tube top with a pair of tight, khaki shorts that reached her knees and black, steel-toed boots that had neon green laces. Her bright green guild mark was on her right forearm, the symbol being that of the cracked helm with the 'S' appearing from the crack. She wore a few rings of both silver and gold on random fingers while her ears were pierced multiple times with studs and small hoops.

"I'm totally gonna take down that prick, Gordon, today," she said, the proud smirk still on her face, "He has no idea what's about to hit him! It's time for a Murdock to take the helm again!" A knock on her door interrupted her speech, both Cordelia and Bones looking towards the sound, "Who is it?!"

"It's me!" a light voice answered, causing Cordelia to smile brightly at the sound. She ran towards the door and threw it open to reveal a brunette woman smiling up at her, "Are you ready for today?"

"ZI!" Cordelia shouted before swooping the smaller woman into a tight hug.

"You always act like you haven't seen me in forever whenever I come get you in the morning," the woman laughed, now feeling the hound jumping on her too in excitement, "And of course I brought a treat for you, Bones," she added once she had been released and handed the pit bull a corn muffin from breakfast.

This woman was Zinnia Jenkins who affectionately went by Zi most of the time. She was a year younger than Cordelia and five inches shorter at 5'3", but she was one of Cordelia's closest friends in the guild. Her hair was a light brown and cut short, the short layers being more like silky wisps of hair. A pair of bright green eyes playfully stared out from behind her bangs. Her skin was much lighter than Cordelia's but she was just as toned as the woman as she tended to train with her often. Though, her bust was a bit larger than Cordelia's. She wore a pair of jean shorts, white tennis shoes with black stripes across them and a green t-shirt. She had no piercing as she liked to keep things simple for the most part. Though, she did have a few faint scars across her arms and legs and her coral guild mark was on the outside of her right thigh.

"In my defense, I miss you after each night!" Cordelia announced, "When are you already gonna go for a damn S-Class spot?! You could have joined me in these awesome S-Class dorms a long time ago! Instead you choose to stay in the smaller ones out in the back!"

"I have my reasons, you know that," Zinnia answered, "Besides, I'm sure that Nanami already has her hands full with you as a neighbor since you both use the same floor right now."

"She doesn't mind me!"

"That's probably because she's too nice to say otherwise," Zinnia mumbled.

"What was that?! You punk!"

"Nothing!" the brunette replied cheerfully, "Now are you ready to go? I think Gordon knows something is up. He seems to be on edge today."

"Like he's not a fucking prick any other day?"

"Gordon has his good sides too," Zinnia retorted.

"Yeah? Name one!"

Zinnia opened her mouth to answer, but then no sound came out. She then twirled on her heels and began walking towards the upper deck on the ship, "Let's go while you still have that spark going, Delia!"

"Thought so," Cordelia snickered before turning towards her large bed and grabbing the coat that was on it. She swung the long, white coat outwards and she smoothly stuck her arms into it. It was short sleeved and she left the collar laid flat while also leaving the coat itself open. The longer part of the coat billowed outwards and on the back of it in gold was the Storm's Helm insignia, "I'll have to tell mom thanks again for the coat. It's so badass!" she smiled giddily to herself. She then looked down at the gray hound, "Time to head out Bones!" she shouted, running out the door of her dorm with the pit bull close on her heels.

**. : + : .**

"Dad…dad!" a young man called out to an older man that was clearly ignoring him for the moment, "Oi! Old man! Listen to me! Pops! Come on!"

"You're so damn annoying!" the old man finally shouted before throwing the book he had been reading in the younger man's face, "What the hell do you want, Ace?!"

"Did ya know that Cordi is going for the master position today?" the younger man asked.

The young man, known as Ace Murdock, was the younger brother of Cordelia by three years. He had the same neon green hair as her, though it was cut short in a crew cut. His eyes were a dark onyx, but they appeared just as energetic and playful as Cordelia's. His body was toned, muscled and tanned from his own workouts and he stood at six feet even. He wore black cargo pants with straw sandals and a white v-neck t-shirt. He did have multiple piercings like his sister and rings on random fingers too, though his were made of ivory and onyx. His black guild mark was on the left side of his neck. Finally, he had a holster belt around his hips that carried swords on either side of him.

The old man eyed him for a moment, almost wondering how he ended up with a son as dense as Ace. He thanked whatever Gods were looking over him for his daughter as she tended to be a bit smarter than her brother. He silently blamed his wife's family bloodline for Ace's stupidity. The man finally sighed as Ace continued to stare at him expectantly, waiting for him to answer, "Yeah, I know she's going for it. I was the one that told her to do it."

"So you think she's ready for it then?!"

"Don't shout," the old man mumbled before bopping his son on the head, "And yes, I believe she's ready for it or else I wouldn't have told her to go for it today."

Ace watched his father for a moment before a smile spread across his face, "Good," he said, turning to leave the cabin to head up to watch the fight. He noticed that the older man wasn't following him, "Aren't you gonna come up to watch?"

"What for?" he grumbled as he picked the book back up and plopped back down in his chair, "I already know what's going to happen."

Ace simply shrugged in response before racing upstairs before he missed the showdown.

"I really wish that kid wasn't so stupid," the old man continued to grumble before he found his previous reading spot.

**. : + : .**

Gordon Hawthorne paced back and forth smack dab in the middle of the large center vessel. The open deck was wide and long and was the usual hang out spot for mages when they weren't doing much of anything. All sorts of furniture and tables had been set up all across it for mages to sit and eat and drink and play games at. Tarps and cloths had been set up in various spots as well in order to create shaded areas. Normally these relaxing areas were spread out all across the entire deck of the ship, but Gordon had cleared away a good amount of them after getting word that he would be challenged today and by none other than Cordelia Murdock.

"What a bitch!" he growled loudly, "She knows that the Guild Master position is mine! I won it fair and square three years ago!"

His body was tall and muscled, standing at 6'2", and he was just a few years older than Cordelia. He was currently shirtless in order to feel like he had some intimidation over his opponent since he could show off his muscles that way. He had messy black hair that reached the nape of his neck and he constantly slicked it back out of his grays eyes. He wore a pair of baggy, gray pants that were tucked into black combat boots. His black guild mark was large and across his chest and across his back was a large scar.

"What right does she have to take that position from me?!"

"I have every right to take it from you!" Cordelia shouted, suddenly appearing across from him. A large crowd of mages had circled around them to watch what was about to happen and immediate whisperings could be heard, though most of them sounded excited about the fight and at the prospect of a new master.

"Back down, Cordelia!" Gordon shouted, "You wouldn't know what to do with the master position!"

"Family history says otherwise," she smirked in reply, her arms crossed and hips cocked to one side, "I can understand if you're scared to take me on though."

"Like hell I'm scared of you!"

"Good to hear!" she answered, grinning widely, "Now as tradition states, any mage part of the Storm's Helm guild is allowed to issue a challenge to the current guild master for their position. If the challenger wins, then they become the new guild master."

"And if you lose, then you have to wait another year before you can issue another challenge," Gordon added.

"I didn't feel that was necessary to add in since I'll be winning today!"

"You're always so cocky! Don't forget that I know how you fight and what all you can do! I've seen you train before!"

"Yeah, but you don't really have what it to takes to be a real guild master and that will be your downfall today," Cordelia retorted, "And how you even won three years ago was a fluke since Duke tripped and allowed you to make the final hit."

"Stop talking about the past! I still won fair and square!"

"Let's see you do it again! Twin Pistols!" she shouted, re-quipping to large pistols in each hand. Without hesitating, she shot off the first few bullets at the man. They instantly whizzed through the air and would have easily punctured the man's skin if not for his Metal Magic allowing him to cover his skin in the hard material and blocking the bullets.

"You should know by now that your puny-ass bullets won't do anything against my metal skin!"

"You keep thinking that!" Cordelia answered with a laugh as she shot off another bullet to hit him directly in the face. While it didn't hurt him, it was still an annoyance to have it bounce off his face. It was enough to have him instantly charging towards her.

"Metal Make: Hammer!" he shouted, creating a rather large hammer made entirely of metal to bring down on Cordelia. Though, she had speed on her side and quickly twisted out of the way and jumped up to land on the man's shoulders. The hammer came down on the now empty spot, denting in that spot on the deck.

"I think you need to work on your aim," Cordelia snickered from his shoulders, "Like this!" she said before unloading the rest of the bullets from her pistols into the top of his head. Loud pinging noises came from the top of his head every time a bullet hit him. The barrage of bullets and the sounds of gunshots going off made it hard for Gordon to concentrate properly and he couldn't quite shake Cordelia off of him, "I hope you know that it's only your giant, clunky head that I can do that to. You should feel proud of that," she laughed.

"Get off!" he shouted, finally managing to grab onto one of her legs and throw her off of him. Though, she easily flipped through the air and skidded to a stop across from him again.

"Awww, look! You're getting so worked up and just for me too! You really know how to treat a lady, Gordy!"

"I hate that fucking name and you know it!" Gordon yelled, feeling even angrier now, "Metal Make: Spike Showers!" he shouted, creating a floating field of spikes in front of him. He then controlled them all to fly out towards her.

Cordelia quickly called back her pistols before bringing out her next weapon, "Lucky Charm!" she shouted just as she ran towards the spikes and began jumping up across them. Just as she came to one of the last metal spikes, she pointed the small and narrow gun at Gordon.

"I already told you that bullets don't work!"

Cordelia simply ignored him and pulled the trigger. Instead of receiving more bullets to the face, green paint splattered across his face. He had to quickly shut his eyes to shield them from the paint as she rained down more paint balls on him. She kept on hitting him, keeping him where she wanted him. She ran up near enough to him and slammed a hand down on the ground, "Howitzer!" she announced and in a flash of green magic a long barrel-like gun stationed between two large wheels appeared. It was aimed right at Gordon and after she stopped firing her paint gun, he wiped his face and turned to come face to face with it, "Can your metal handle this?" she asked with a smirk as she lit the short fuse to the gun.

"Shit!" he shouted, preparing himself for what was about to come. He didn't have time to do much else as the gun was fired right into his gut, sending him flying across the deck. He managed to stay standing though as he came skidding to a stop. His feet just hit the edge of the deck, his back facing the front of the fleet. Smoke billowed up off of his stomach and a charred area was left behind from where the shot hit him, but it was still only on his metal skin, "Is that all you got?! You're gonna lose then!"

"So my lovely little Howitzer isn't enough for you?!" she retorted loudly, "Fine! Then try this on for size! Tsar Cannon!" she shouted. The first howitzer quickly disappeared and was soon replaced with a much larger version. This cannon was made of bronze and was almost twenty feet in length and stood even taller than Gordon.

"Where the hell did you even get something like that?!" Gordon shouted.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Cordelia snickered to herself.

"You aren't really gonna shoot me with that are you?! I mean, I can just jump out of the way."

"You could, but I know how to move it around with ease, so really, you're just wasting your time," she explained, "So why don't you just give in now?"

"No way in hell! I can take it! So shoot it and I'll still be standing here!"

"Zi! Ace! Should I really shoot it?!"

"Shoot it, sis!" Ace answered quickly with excitement, "I haven't seen this one in action!"

The crowd around them began egging Cordelia on, repeating the words 'shoot it' over and over again until they were all shouting it. Cordelia then looked back towards Zinnia to look for her approval. She received a thumbs up and the re-quip mage took that as instant approval. She then turned back towards Gordon with the crowd still cheering her on.

"It was nice knowing you! Thanks for wasting three years of our time as guild master!" Cordelia shouted before firing the cannon. A huge iron ball flew out from it and right at Gordon. The ball was almost as big as Gordon so there was no way for the man to grab it and stop it. Instead, the projectile slammed into him, his metal skin echoing off of it. It then flew him over the front of the fleet and out into the ocean until he disappeared. The crowd stared at where Gordon had just been standing in silent shock, not knowing that the shot would have been that powerful. Cordelia turned back towards them all with a large smirk, "And that, ladies and gentleman," she began, leaning against her cannon, "Is how you become a new guild master!"

In the next instant, the rest of the guild was cheering for Cordelia and congratulating her on her victory and new position as guild master. In the chaos of it all, everyone missed a large man walking up to Cordelia until he was already in their midst. He stood at 6'1" with a toned build with tanned skin and scars along his arms and ones hidden under his shirt that crossed his chest and back. His faded, neon green hair was slightly wavy and shoulder length, creating a mess around his face and partially covering his onyx eyes. He wore a black shirt with a pair of black jeans tucked into heavy black boots. Over his clothes he wore a black duster with a white symbol of the guild mark on the back of it.

He came to stand directly in front of Cordelia, staring down at her with a straight face and bringing the crowd to an instant silence. Cordelia stared back up at him with an almost nervous face, unsure of how he was going to react. He then placed a hand on top of her head, "That's my girl," he said, finally letting a small and proud smile appear on his lips.

Cordelia smiled brightly up at him before hugging him tightly, "Thanks dad!"

"Um…Mister Finn Murdock…sir," one of the members began nervously, looking down at the deck as they spoke to the older man, "We can't just really leave Gordon…um…we can't leave him out in the ocean alone, can we?"

Finn stared down at the nervous mage before turning towards Cordelia, "Looks like your first order of business as the new master is hunting down the old one."

"What?!" Cordelia shouted, "Why do I have to go searching for that prick?! It's his own fault that he went flying off into nowhere!"

"Cordelia," was all Finn said, but there was a warning tone behind it.

"Ugh! Fine! I'll go hunt down that dumbass!" she grumbled loudly as she recalled her cannon, "Ace! You're coming with me!"

"What?! Why?!" he whined.

"Shut up and move it!" she shouted, kicking him to get him to move forward.

Zinnia laughed as she watched the siblings bicker back and forth as they moved across the deck to head towards one of the smaller boats to take to go find Gordon. She gently patted Bones's head as the pit bull had opted to stay with her before she looked up at Finn, "Looks like things are going to get more interesting, yeah?"

"Yeah," he grunted in reply, but still continued to smile to himself. Things had turned out just as he thought they would and he couldn't be more proud of his daughter for her next step up into the world.

* * *

**A/N: **CHA! Got this finished and I'm so excited!

**Credits**

**Cordelia Murdock and Bones - MyDearWatson**

**Zinnia Jenkins - MyDearWatson**

**Ace Murdock - MyDearWatson**

**Gordon Hawthorne - MyDearWatson**

**Finn Murdock - MyDearWatson**

So, I know I really shouldn't be starting a new story, but this idea hit me and I had to write it. It is, of course, another SYOC Fairy Tail Story.

So first off! I would like to thank my Beta - Dreadburner94 - for once again helping me out with everything for this story! With his help I was able to get a bunch of things flushed out so far and I probably wouldn't haven gotten this up so quickly without his help! So as always, you are very much appreciated and thank you for your help with this story!

Second! Thunder Stone will still be my main focus, but this story was a fun idea for me and I wanted to have a side fic where I could have some more light hearted stuff going on as I don't think this will turn out as dark as Thunder Stone will.

Next, this story starts in April X792. It will not have any links whatsoever to Thunder Stone if you read that one as well. And I will not be including much with the canon characters or storyline if at all, so don't expect to really see them in this story. I really just want this story to focus around this specific guild.

I will NOT be accepting any Slayers of any kind! Sorry, but due to the nature of the guild, they wouldn't survive anyways, lol. And I already have plenty of Slayers for Thunder Stone that I'm set on them for a while.

This guild will only have 5 S-Class members at any one time. Cordelia was previously an S-Class mage, so now her spot is open, so I will need a brand new S-Class mage right from the start. Also, one of the S-Class spots have already been filled, so keep that in mind. That only leaves 4 spots. If you send in a character after the cut off line, I will let you know and we'll work something out for your character's power level. Also for S-Class mages, they will work very similarly to how we just saw the guild master position work. So other mages can challenge the current S-Class mages for their spots. So they could change up every so often, so don't worry too much if you don't get one of those spots right off the bat. But it's not gonna be crazy changes all the time as the S-Class mages are S-Class for a reason and they aren't going to be easy to beat.

I'm not sure how many members I'll be accepting at the moment, but once I feel I have enough members to work with I'll make the cut off line and that will be that.

I am being way stricter with this story than I was with Thunder Stone. So once the cut off line has been reached, there won't be any room for more unless I feel it's necessary for more characters. If I come to a point like that, I will state how many members I need and open the submissions for a short time again, but otherwise things will stay closed.

Also, you MUST SEND IN YOUR OC TO ME IN A PM. I will NOT accept any characters that are sent in a review. That ruins the surprise of your OC for other readers.

Also, you MUST FOLLOW THE OC FORM. I will NOT accept any characters that do not follow the form and that do not have all categories fully and correctly filled out.

Again, I'm being much stricter with the submissions this time around. If I'm going to put effort into writing this story, then I expect the same effort put into making your character. I know this may sound a bit mean, but I think it's only fair. I will also be adding in notes to the OC form on how I would like to have certain things filled out.

Once I start getting OCs and figuring out how to put them all into the story, then more chapters should start rolling out. And you will receive credit for the character once they show up for the first time.

So with all that being said, please enjoy the story and enjoy making new characters! I very much look forward to seeing them all!

I'll have the next chapter up when I feel I have enough characters to work with.

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson

**OC Form**

Name:

Age: Preferably within the 16-35 range

Gender:

Appearance:

Hair:

Eyes:

Height:

Body Type:

Skin Tone:

Guild Mark Location and Color:

Others: Such as piercings, tattoos, birthmarks, scars, etc.

Clothing:

Regular Clothes:

Formal Clothing:

Swimwear:

Sleepwear:

Winter Clothing:

Personality: You must be as detailed as possible. I will not take a character that only has like two or three sentences for their personality section. If you want me to portray them correctly, then you need to give me everything that creates them – the good, the bad and the ugly. So 'shy and sweet' will not work for this category. And everyone has good things and bad things about them, so don't feel hesitant to tell me their flaws as well as what makes them a good person. AGAIN, I WILL NOT ACCEPT CHARACTERS WITH A LACK OF DETAIL ON THIS PART.

Likes:

Dislikes:

Extras: Anything odd or interesting that you would like to add to your character. So this can include pet peeves, hobbies they have or specific mannerisms that they do. (Example: they happen to whistle without realizing it when they're bored.)

Relationships:

Friends: Tell me how they act around their friends. And please include the type of people they are more likely to befriend and people they are more likely to be annoyed with.

Rivals: If your character is someone that would have a rival, tell me so. And tell me the type of person they would most likely have a rival with and how they would act with that person.

Enemies: Tell me how they act around an enemy. Do they stay silent or are they more talkative? Do they draw out the fight or do they end it quickly?

Romance: Tell me the type of person your character is more likely to have a crush on and how would they act around that person. Again, the more detailed you are with this, the easier it'll be for me to pair them with someone. If you don't want them to end up in a romance, please tell me this as well so I can plan properly. I will NOT be doing any OCxCanon pairings this time around, so this is why this explanation is important so I know what other OC would work well with them.

Magic: I will ONLY take up to TWO types of magic for a character. I will also NOT being accepting any sort of Slayers for this story! I'm sorry, but due to the nature of the guild, Slayers aren't going to work very well AND I already have plenty of Slayers for Thunder Stone! So mix it up and create so new magic types or put twists on already existing magic types. Be creative and have fun with it. Also, I will ONLY be accepting FIVE S-Class mages. One of those spots has already been claimed, so please keep this in mind. If the S-Class spots have been taken by the time you turn in a character, I will tell you so and I may ask you to tweak the power level of your character. I don't want a whole bunch of Mary/Gary-Sues running around the place! And I want to be able to develop the characters and I can't always do that with their magic if you've overpowered them. Also, please explain how your magic works, especially if it's something new you created.

Spells: PLEASE give me a list of spells that your character can use and explain how they work. You can also give me a list of spells they can eventually learn and I may ask you about a spell or two I may create for them myself in the future. I'll always ask before I do this though.

Weapons/Equipment: They don't have to have a weapon, but if they do, please explain what it is and if it has magical properties or not.

Strengths: Explain what your character is good at combat wise. So like, short range, mid range or long range fighting. Are they good at strategies or are they better at heading into battle head on? Are they good at leading or following? Are they more offensive or defensive? So on and so forth. Again, the more detailed you are with this, the better understanding of their battle etiquette I'll have and I'll be able to properly show them off in battles and fights.

Weaknesses: EVERYONE HAS WEAKNESSES, so I expect to have weaknesses for your character as well. What are they bad at? Team work? Long range fighting? Battle tactics? Taking orders? Etc, etc, etc.

History: This story stars on April 3, X792. It will not involve anything or any characters from Thunder Stone if you read that. And it also will not involve the canon characters all that much, if at all. I want this solely to be about this specific guild. So in the history, please include where they grew up, how they got their magic, how they act with their families (if they have family members still around), how they ended up at the guild (this is especially important since the guild sails all across the sea and is never in once place for long), what all they've been through up until the starting point of the story. AGAIN I WILL NOT ACCEPT CHARACTERS SENT IN TO ME WITH LIKE 2 OR 3 SENTENCES FOR THEIR HISTORY. If I am taking the time to properly write in your character, then I expect the same amount of work to go into you making your character in the first place. So I do reserve the right to deny the character if the history isn't long enough or if it doesn't make sense. I will work with you if you need it to make sure everything is in place and the history makes sense. I don't mind receiving long histories/profiles as I'd rather receive more information than not enough. Plus, if you've received a character from me, you know what my own OCs look like, so long profiles are not a problem for me at all. Also, I do NOT want any OCs that are related to canon characters. They could possibly have known and been friends with canon characters, but I'd rather not have that either.

Other: Anything else you'd like to add.


	2. A Mute, a Matchmaker and a Rival

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter completed!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Mute, a Matchmaker and a Rival**

**April 3, X792 - Late Morning**

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Cordelia grumbled as her mouth fell open in shock and disgust as she stared at the master's cabin on the head, white ship. Zinnia and Bones stood with her, both wearing similar looks of shock with their mouths agape.

Within the large cabin that made up the main office for the guild master laid a huge mess of papers, files, artifacts, maps, half filled cups of what they assumed to be beer or wine and even half empty plates of food. It was also dark as the lights didn't work when Cordelia tried to flick them on. A light buzzing could be heard coming from within the cabin, the trio guessing that it was coming from flies.

"No wonder Gordon didn't know about anything that was going on," Zinnia mentioned, "He probably couldn't find anything in here."

Cordelia attempted to take a step forward into the cabin and was promptly met with a waft of one of the most disgusting smells that ever entered her nose. She quickly gagged at the smell and ran from the area to quickly empty her stomach over the side of the ship. After a few good heaves, she made her way back down towards the cabin and stood a few feet from the doorway

"Sweet Jesus! That's worse than Eli's yellow fire," Cordelia said, looking over towards her brunette friend, "What the hell am I supposed to do with that when I can't even step inside?"

"Clean it?" she questioned, laughing at Cordelia's deadpanned stare, "Yeah, I suppose not when you can't even walk in there without gagging. Why not force Gordon to clean it? He was the one that let it get this bad. I mean, we haven't even looked at the bedroom on this ship either. Pretty sure that's not going to be any better."

"Well I am NOT moving any of my personal things onto this ship until it's cleaned properly," Cordelia stated in a firm tone, "But I don't want that metal idiot touching anything. He'd probably take something or mess something up on purpose just to get back at me. I don't trust his judgment right now."

"What to do? What to do?" Zinnia questioned while tapping her index finger onto her chin. A light bulb suddenly appeared above her head, "I've got it! Hagi!"

Cordelia smacked a palm to her forehead, "Why didn't we think of that sooner! Let's go find him!" she said before slamming the door shut tight and ushering them all up where they could breath in some fresh air before leaving to hunt down said mage.

**. : + : .**

A rather young girl of fourteen scampered across the main deck of the large, middle vessel after having grabbed food to eat for an early lunch from within the lower realms of said ship. She only stood at 4'4", but she didn't much mind being short since it helped her stay hidden from unwanted attention. Plus, having such a light and thin frame made it easier for her to climb and maneuver around the entirety of the guild. Her dark raven hair was wild and full of bouncy and thick curls. She was pretty sure she felt half of the comb she had broken earlier hanging in her hair somewhere. She really needed to give up trying to brush out her mane of hair since it never worked out. Messy bangs fell in her gray-green eyes which were wide and round, taking in everything around her. Even if she liked to stay hidden most of the time, she enjoyed observing everything around her and she hated to miss anything interesting going on. Her skin was a dark mahogany brown which had her sea green guild mark popping brightly on her right hand. Her dark skin also made it easier to see the scar across her right forearm. She wore a white, sleeveless shirt that was a bit loose on her small frame. She had it tucked into baggy, gray pants that were tied off at her calves. She had a blue sash tied around her waist to not only hold up her pants but a sword as well and she had a rope bracelet on her left wrist. She was currently barefoot like she was most of the time, someone usually having to catch her and force her into shoes if she was required to wear them.

She continued to run across the deck in the direction of the crow's nest, which she had made into her own sanctuary. The only time she was kicked out of that spot was when it was needed during jobs or battles. She was about half way across the long deck when something caught her eye. She looked to see a group of guild members playing music and dancing together. She stopped to watch the scene, enjoying the small and fun moment she managed to catch. She had always enjoyed how happy everyone seemed to be in the guild. After living on the ship for two years, it still always surprised her how energetic everyone seemed to be. In the middle of her observing the scene, she missed the large form approaching her.

"Still watching people like that, Squall?" a gruff voice asked.

The small girl, known only as Squall to most of the guild, looked over to see who had spoken to her only to have her face fall instantly. Right in front of her was Gordon Hawthorne, although she couldn't help the small smirk upon seeing the multiple lumps on his head. She was pretty sure they were gifts from Cordelia after she had to go hunt him down.

"You laughing at me, little girl?!" he suddenly shouted, gaining the attention of one particular mage that sat near the pair, "You should be cleaning something! You still only have me to thank for taking your pitiful self in!"

Squall simply stood there, but if looks could kill then Gordon would have been dead a thousand times over from the heated look in her eyes. She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance at the thought that the man had been a bit right. Gordon had been the one to take her aboard Storm's Helm two years ago and he never seemed to let her forget it. It wasn't like no one else had been taken in like her, but Gordon just loved to shove this fact in her face more often than not. He had made her work on the ship as compensation for saving her too. She was rather annoyed with this. It's not that she wasn't grateful for being saved, but she could do more than just clean and move things around. She was a mage after all! So every day that passed, Squall came to dislike the man more and more to the point where she had come to ignore the man's demands and simply did as she pleased.

"Are you listening to me?! Go grab a mop and start cleaning!"

Gordon attempted to reach out for the girl, but he was quickly stopped by pale hand grabbing onto his arm in a tight grip. He followed the hand until he came face to face with one of Storm's Helm's S-Class mages. He inwardly sighed at the sight of her, knowing that today was just not his lucky day.

This twenty year old woman was known as Nanami Shiraki. She stood at 5'7" with a thin and fit build with a thin waist and a slightly smaller than average bust. Her purple hair fell all around her head and reached her shoulders with several red highlights in it. Her bangs were cut at her eyebrows so that it would stay out of her face and slanted, icy blue eyes. Normally, those eyes carried a friendly and calm expression, but they currently held a piercing gaze as they stared at Gordon. Her red guild mark was located on her stomach, sitting to the left and a bit above her naval. She wore a short, black tank top that ended just below her chest, exposing her stomach. Over this, she wore a sleeveless, red leather jacket that ended just past her chest and was decorated with a few gold studs along the folded collar. The jacket's main zipper and pocket zippers were also gold in color. She had on a pair of tattered blue jeans that had holes in the knees and a black leather belt around her waist. The jeans were tucked into a pair of black combat boots and she wore a brown rope necklace that had a few gold charms hanging from it. Finally, from a blue cord that hung diagonally across her chest was a long and regal katana that was kept in a curved red sheath that was decorated in gold. The guard on it was gold and shaped like a flower with five petals and the handle was wrapped in a red cloth while paper charms hung from the pommel, reading Swallowtail in kanji.

"Leave her alone," Nanami stated in a firm tone.

"This is none of your business, Shiraki," Gordon snapped in reply, using her last name like most of the guild did, "Beat it!"

"You're only taking your anger out on her because Cordelia-san beat you today," Nanami continued, not backing down from the man, "And with that being said, she doesn't have to listen to you anymore. You're not the guild master anymore."

"You should really learn when to keep your mouth shut, Shiraki!" he shouted, "Take a note from the mute here and close that mouth!" he continued, pointing towards Squall.

"Your impolite attitude is not refreshing in the slightest," Nanami said, her grip on his arm tightening in annoyance, "I, for one, am happy that Cordelia-san won the match today."

Gordon shouted loudly in frustration as he attempted to turn and land a punch on the woman. Nanami easily ducked out of the way before releasing the man and jumping back a few feet. She grabbed onto the hilt of her sword with her left hand, preparing for a fight from the man. Even if Gordon had been the guild master, Cordelia had already roughed him up earlier that morning and he was a bit tactless when it came to battle, so Nanami wasn't worried about a fight against him.

"Metal Make-"

Though, before he could even finish his spell, Nanami beat him to the punch, "Space Cutter: Shadow Chase," she said evenly as she pulled out her katana and slashed it across the front of her. This ripped open a red hole in the air big enough for Nanami to jump through it. She quickly disappeared in it, the hole closing up behind her. In the next instant, another hole opened up directly behind Gordon, "Slash Wave," she said, slashing her blade horizontally at the large man. This sent out a wide wave of red distorted space towards him. When the attack hit him, it easily dropped him to his knees as the magic had a heavy damaging affect on an opponent physically, leaving them feeling weak and disoriented.

Before Gordon could get back up, Squall quickly came up beside him and bopped the handle of her sword hard on his head where he already had a bump. This finished the large man and had him thumping to the ground in an unmoving heap.

"Nice finishing move," Nanami said, smiling over at the young girl as she placed her sword back in its sheath, "Now then," she began as she stood in front of the girl, "Are you all right?"

Squall stared up at the woman with wide eyes, having been around her a few times before. She found Nanami to be one of the nicer members of the guild and she spoke to her like a normal person rather than ignore her or quickly write her off as an idiot because she couldn't speak. Because of this, Squall gave her a large smile and poked her stomach a few times in appreciation for what she had done for her.

Time spent with the young girl had taught Nanami on how to pick up on what she was telling her. She smiled warmly at the girl, "You're welcome, Squall-san."

Squall instantly dropped her smile at the suffix that Nanami had used with her name.

"Ah, right, you don't like 'san' added to your name," Nanami replied quickly, "I apologize. It's a form of habit, but I'll try harder, Squall," she said, patting her head gently. That was when she felt the broken comb in the girl's hair, "You broke another comb?"

Squall felt a sweat drop fall down her head as she nodded in answer.

"Well come sit down and I'll help you untangle it. Plus, you need somewhere to sit and eat still, right?" she asked, motioning down to the food in her hands.

Squall looked down to the food, the neatly made sushi looking even more appetizing after being stopped from eating it sooner than she would have liked. She then looked back up at Nanami and with another wide smile, she pushed the plate of sushi up towards her, remembering that the woman really liked it.

"If you're willing to share, then I'll have some. Thank you," she said as she began walking towards the table that she had previously been setting at, "Hopefully I can have a daughter as sweet as you one day," she mumbled more to herself than the small girl.

Squall quickly followed her, but not before taking a moment to jump up high and land hard on Gordon's gut with both feet.

**. : + : .**

Amelia Thompson, more affectionately known by Mia, currently stood on the back left corner ship with her arms covered tightly across her chest and a heavy blush on her cheeks. She was rather short for a twenty-four year old, only reaching five feet. Though, her skin was lightly tanned and her body was thin with a bit of curves. Her dark brown hair was thick and wavy and reached the small of her back. Her bangs swooped across her face, showing off dark sapphire eyes. Her crimson red guild mark was located in between her shoulder blades. She wore fitted black jeans with a red sash to keep them in place, the ends of the sash hanging on the left side of her hips. The jeans were tucked into heeled, black knee-high boots, the heels being thicker in nature rather than a stem. She normally wore corset styled tops in various colors with whatever struck her mood. Today she sported a bright red one. Finally, she wore three silver bangles on each wrist.

Why Hagi ever chose to live in the all boys dorms, she would never know, but she had wished that he hadn't asked her to meet him on the top of the ship.

"Really Hagi!" she shouted loudly, "You should have better sense! And what's taking you so long?!" she continued to shout to no one in particular.

The reason for her current embarrassment was due to the several comments made about her more than plentiful chest size. On the back right corner ship that held the women's dorms, she could walk around without having to worry about such comments. Sure, a few of the other women would make a comment or two about how they were envious of her chest size or they just thought they were nice looking, but never comments that made her blush heavily. Even on the back middle ship that held the co-ed dorms, she was left alone most of the time; but here on the boy's dorms, they all stared at her as if they had never seen a woman in their lives. It was like she was on a completely different world and she just wanted to get off!

"Why can't you live in the co-ed dorms, Hagi?!"

"Because the boy's dorms need the most work when it comes to cleanliness and tidiness," a light voice answered.

Amelia looked towards where the voice came from to see a young man walking out from the stairway that led down into the cabins.

To say that Hagi Atairo was a man was to use the term loosely. While Hagi was a boy, he came off more feminine than any normal boy would. Amelia had told him several times that he was prettier than some of the women on the ship, which he never seemed to mind. Hagi came to an understanding a long time ago on what he looked like and had simply embraced it. He was currently nineteen and only reached the height of 5'8". He was fairly certain he wouldn't get any taller than that. His body was lean and athletic, but it was still a rather slim build. It did make him appear attractive, but it almost made it impossible to tell which gender he was. His long, dark blonde hair didn't help his gender case either. It reached down to his waist and was straight, a few long bangs falling across his dark brown eyes. His fair skin also added an air of mystery to his gender and it had a smattering of pale freckles across his nose and cheeks. His pale red guild mark was located on the back of his right hand. He wore a long sleeved sweater with horizontal stripes consisting of every color in the rainbow in faded pastel shades. He paired it with black skinny jeans and black high-tops with white laces.

"So your cleaning habits are the reason I have to endure such torture?!" Amelia continued to shout, more out of embarrassment than anger. Normally, Amelia was a fairly happy and motherly type of woman, but any time she felt embarrassed about her chest size she tended to lose her usual composure.

"Really Mia," Hagi replied with a happy smile, "I don't know why you have such problems with your chest. They are rather lovely."

"Don't say that! It makes everything that much worse!" she yelled, tightening her hold across her chest.

"You should really learn how to show them off better. You'd have the boys eating out of the palms of your hands!" he giggled, hearts lighting up in his eyes, "Oh my! All the dates I could set you up on would be wonderful! Please let me match you up with someone already!"

"Hagiiiiiii," she whined, thick streams of tears falling down her cheeks, "Can we please just leave this ship already?!"

"Only if you uncross your arms! Learn how to show those ladies off already!"

"You're so mean! You know I can't do that!"

"Why have them and not show them off a bit? Use them to your advantage!"

"I'm not that type of girl!" she shouted, her blushing growing darker, "You're going to kill me from embarrassment! Please! Can we go?!"

Hagi chuckled before coming up to hug her from the right side, "Yes, yes, let's go. But really, you should let me set you up one of these days."

"Geez Hagi," she sighed as they began to head towards the heavy, metal bridge at the inner corner of the ship that would lead up to the middle vessel, "Just buy me lunch and we'll call it even," she said, finally dropping her arms and wrapping them around the man in a friendly hug as well, "You're lucky you're so cute."

"I think you tell me that at least once a day," he giggled.

The two were half way across the bridge when they suddenly heard a loud shout.

"HAGI!" Cordelia yelled from the back ship they had just been on. She suddenly took off at top speed up the bridge and caught the boy in her arms. She continued running up the bridge and out across the top deck of the middle boat in an almost unseen flash, the thin blonde boy practically waving like a flag in her arms.

"Uhhh…" was all Amelia managed to get out as she stared at the path that Cordelia had just ran down, sweat dropping at the fire trail that had been left behind. Amelia looked behind her when she heard laughter, seeing Zinnia and Bones standing there. She managed to find her voice as she shook her head with a smile, "Looks like becoming guild master hasn't changed her much, has it?"

"Nope," Zinnia answered, now walking in tow with Amelia, Bones trotting ahead of them happily, "But you should come check out why she needed Hagi so badly. It's pretty bad."

Loud shouts and explosions coming from the main deck quickly grabbed the women's attention. They exchanged glances before running the rest of the way up the bridge. Upon coming to the top of the deck, they saw a brawl happening between the brand new guild master and a woman that was the self proclaimed Pirate Queen as well as being Cordelia's number one rival.

"I don't have time for this dumbass bullshit, Ingrid!" Cordelia shouted as she jumped around the ship with Hagi still in one of her arms, the poor boy being flung back and forth like a rag doll in her arms.

Ingrid Eskilsdotter was a woman of twenty-four, but even with being two years younger than Cordelia, she still seemed to command as much attention as the re-quip mage. Her appearance and personality simply wouldn't allow for one to write her off. She was tall at 5'11" with tanned skin and a slender frame with a narrow waist. She had a slightly larger bust and her tanned skin was flawless. Her chestnut brown hair was shoulder length, wavy and voluminous. Her fringe covered her forehead, showing off her dark brown, round cat-like eyes with heavy black eyeliner and eyeshadow. Though it was currently unseen, her black guild mark was located on her left thigh and was about the size of a dinner plate. She wore a Bohemian styled silk dress that ended around her ankles. It was layered and float-y in appearance in a dark blue color with small, golden flower prints across it. An oversized kimono jacket with overly long sleeves was worn over the dress. It was a soft cream color with small sakura petal prints across it. She had on a large, wide-brimmed floppy sunhat that was made of dark red velvet. It was tilted diagonally downwards towards her face, partly covering it. She wore cognac brown, open-toed platform boots that reached up to her knees. She also wore a very expensive and rare looking golden chocker necklace styled with a large red ruby at the center of it. Finally, she had one dangling earring on her right ear made out of various feathers along with various gold, jewel and pearl bracelets along both arms.

"Oh? But I thought you always had time for me?" Ingrid replied, smiling devilishly, "Have you already forgotten about me after becoming the master?"

"I think it's a bit hard to forget someone like you!"

"That's just wonderful to hear, my dear," Ingrid continued, "I was worried that you'd stop our lovely, little spars. Though, I do suppose that would make me the winner. I am ahead of you by three points," she said, motioning over towards a giant blackboard that was hung behind one of the bars located on the top level of the ship. Right down the middle of it was a white chalk line. At the top of each side was one of the their names, Cordelia being on the left and Ingrid on the right. A plethora of ticks filled each side, each tick representing a challenge they had won against each other.

"Like hell you get to win like that!" Cordelia shouted, stomping a foot down. Even just talking to Ingrid always managed to piss Cordelia off to no end. The woman just knew exactly how to get under her skin. Even a sly smirk and stare sent her way from the woman could send Cordelia over the edge. And the damn woman was always just so calm! It made Cordelia so angry that she was always so nonchalant about everything while she was the one that was always getting riled up, "Goddamn! Just thinking about you pisses me off! I'm gonna smack that smirk right off your face!"

"Cordelia, dear," Hagi began, still hanging from her left arm.

"What?!"

"Could please put me down first before you engage in battle with Ingrid?" he asked politely, already knowing that they wouldn't be going anywhere soon, "I'm not one for spars like this and I'd rather not have to go change clothes if I get caught in the line of fire."

"Fine!" she growled, planting him down on his feet, "But don't go anywhere! I need you and your freak of nature cleaning!"

Hagi laughed nervously at her comment, but he didn't seem to take offense to it. He was unsure if what she had said was an insult, as he was never very good at picking up on them, so he simply smiled and inched away from the area.

Cordelia quickly turned back around to send a scowl at a still smiling Ingrid, "There's no way in hell that I'll ever stop winning against you! And I just took out Gordon earlier today and became master! That should count for at least five points!"

"I didn't have the slightest clue that we were battling for that position," Ingrid answered, easily waving off the woman's anger, "But if you really want something in return for that, I'll give you three points. Gordon really isn't worth a full five," she said, walking up to the board and giving Cordelia three new points, "There we are. Now we're tied. Care for a tie breaker?"

"I really don't have time for this today, Ingrid!"

"Oh, but my lovely, little Cordelia," the woman replied, a Cheshire grin crossing her face, "You'll have to make time. Diamond and Pearl having been missing you something awful," she said, calling forth said weapons. In each hand were two identical, white metallic guns with silencer attachments, "How about it ladies?" she asked, talking to the guns, "Want to play with Cordelia again? They just love you so much," she said before pulling both triggers. Bullets flew towards Cordelia, but the woman easily dodged them, causing the people behind her to have to move out of the way quickly.

"Fine! Let's go!" Cordelia shouted before calling forth her own weapon, "Chain Gun!" she announced. Within her hands an EX-34 Chain Gun appeared, the long barrel pointed right at Ingrid. On either shoulder, a belt of bullets appeared for when she needed to reload the gun. The belts were rather long as the gun could shoot off at least five hundred rounds per minute. Without hesitation, Cordelia began to fire the gun, sending out a large amount of bullets towards Ingrid.

The other woman simply continued to smile as she ran towards the bar and jumped up on top of it, making sure to stay ahead of the trail of bullets coming for her. She ran all along the long bar top until she came to the end of it and launched herself in the air. She shot off a few bullets at Cordelia in mid-air. The green haired woman easily moved her head to dodge the first bullets coming from the left, but she had to dip backwards to dodge the bullets coming from the right, watching as they whizzed right across the top of her face. When she pulled herself back up, she was shooting her gun again, aiming it up in the air towards Ingrid. The woman easily pulled her legs in tight to miss the bullets and rolled to the ground, instantly popping up and running again. The chain gun ran out of bullets, Cordelia having to stop to put a new belt of them in. Ingrid took this moment to attempt a few more shots at the woman, but Cordelia had been expecting this.

"Chaos Tanto!" Cordelia shouted, calling forth one of the flew blades she carried in her re-quip space. She caught it in her left hand while her right hand worked to get the chain gun reloaded. Chaos Tanto was a combat knife reaching thirteen and half inches long, the actual blade being seven and half inches, and it was made from a black, high carbon steel. Cordelia waited until the very last moment, like she had been taught from a young age, and quickly blocked the bullets with the knife. Her father had reinforced this knife with hardening magic, so the bullets simply bounced off of the blade with loud pinking noises before they fell to the ground. Cordelia then threw the knife in the air in order to lock the new belt in place with both hands. She picked the gun back up and as soon as she caught her knife with her teeth, she was unleashing another wave of bullets at Ingrid.

"You're very much on your game today, my lovely Cordelia," Ingrid smiled while both women ran across the deck and shooting off their bullets.

Cordelia recalled her knife in order to answer the woman, "Yeah, well, you're really pissing me off today!"

"Always such the lady, aren't we?"

"Shove it!"

"Is that any way for a guild master to speak to their members? How do you expect anyone to respect you speaking like that?"

"Like I care what you think!" Cordelia shouted, "If it was up to me, you would have been thrown in prison a long time ago! Why my father ever took in a criminal like you, I'll never know! I hope you know that he made me promise not to kick you out of the guild before I challenged Gordon!"

"Your father is such a sweet man. You ought to take lessons from him, my dear."

As the two women kept shooting bullets at each other, Hagi had managed to sneak his way back over to Amelia and Zinnia. He looked over at the two women with a curious stare, "Is Ingrid really that bad?"

"Uh…well…let's see," Zinnia began, tapping her finger against her chin as she tried to recall the information she knew about Ingrid, "From what Cordelia has told me, Ingrid has a long reputation of trespassing, robbery, blackmailing, bribing, piracy, vandalism, impersonation, and destruction of both public and government property. She managed to do all that before she was twenty-two," she said with a smile as if that list was something to be proud of. She only received looks of complete shock from Amelia and Hagi, "She was actually the captain of a pirate ship that tried to steal from us. She got some information wrong, thinking we were a fleet of merchant ships rather than a guild. Cordelia was the one that actually defeated her back then. I think that's what sparked their rivalry," she explained with a shrug, "But it's always fun to watch them fight."

Amelia and Hagi exchanged glances, unsure if they would use the word 'fun' to describe what was happening now.

"So…how long before they stop?" Amelia asked.

"Mmm, let's see," Zinnia said, watching the paths of both women. She giggled upon seeing at what was about to happen, "Three…two…one!"

Right as Zinnia got to one, Cordelia's loud scream could be heard as she went running off the side of the boat. Since she had been so focused on taking out Ingrid, she forgot to watch where she was going and how much room she had to run. While Ingrid had managed to stop on a dime from falling over, Cordelia kept going over the edge. She barely had time to recall her gun and grab onto a rope that was hanging over the side of the boat. Her hands ran down the rope, burning them a bit in the process. She eventually managed to stop sliding down it right before her feet hit the water, causing her to sigh in relief. She then stared up with another scowl when she heard Ingrid laughing loudly down at her.

"Looks as if you're lucky that I didn't challenge you for the master spot today, my lovely Cordelia."

"Screw you!"

"Oh my, with an attitude like that, I think I'll leave you hanging. I must add a new point for myself before I forget."

"What?! Pull me up! Right now!" she shouted, but Ingrid had already walked off, "INGRID!"

"Need some help?!" Zinnia shouted down at her.

"Yes! Pull me up right now!"

"Pull you up…?"

"PLEASE!"

"There's the magic word," Zinnia laughed as she began pulling the rope up with both Amelia's and Hagi's help. Once Cordelia was standing on the deck again, the woman attempted to go after Ingrid, but Zinnia managed to guide her towards the head boat, reminding her of the mess that still needed cleaned. Ingrid continued to smile at Cordelia's retreating form, the new master pulling Hagi along with her while Amelia followed out of curiosity.

**. : + : .**

Hagi and Amelia stared at the main office in disgust and horror, Amelia taking a step back and shoving her nose into Hagi's shoulder when she caught a waft of the horrible smell. Hagi practically felt his entire body twitch at the mess before him, wondering how in the world someone could let a place get this bad.

"Seriously, I would clean it myself," Cordelia began, keeping even farther back from the room than Amelia and Zinnia, Bones hiding behind her legs since his heightened sense of smell made him feel a bit sick at the moment, "But I'll literally throw up if I go in there."

Hagi and Amelia looked back at the other two women to see a Cordelia's face covered in a slightly green color. Then they looked over at Zinnia, the woman laughing lightly, "She really did get sick earlier."

"I don't blame her," Hagi answered, "This is horrible! It's so vile! What lived in here?!"

"Gordon," both Cordelia and Zinnia answered.

"Well thank heavens his position was taken over!" Hagi said, "But this is unacceptable! I must clean this at once!"

"So you'll do it?!" Cordelia asked loudly, surprised that he would take on the job. She knew that he enjoyed cleaning, but even she thought this would be a bit much for him.

"I'll take care of it in a jiffy!" he answered, "Costume Change: Butler!" he announced, causing a flash of bright light to cover him. Since Hagi had a magic called Cosplay Re-Quip, he could change his outfits to different characters that would bring forth different talents that could be extremely useful in many different situations. His current new outfit was that of a fabulous butler that gave him not only impeccable cleaning abilities, but also perfect balance and coordination skills. This outfit also allowed him to wield an army of cleaning supplies that was able to wipe away any and all grime and dirt, "Come back in a few hours and everything on this ship will be the cleanest you've ever seen it. Promise!"

"Hagi, you're the best!" Cordelia cried as she hugged him tightly.

He hugged her back with hearts in his eyes again, "Just let me set you up on a date and we'll call it even! A woman your age shouldn't be single anyways!"

"Uhhhh…" was all Cordelia could reply with while Zinnia and Amelia laughed in response.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

**Credits**

**Squall - CryptozoologyConundrum**

**Nanami Shiraki - Dreadburner94**

**Amelia 'Mia' Thompson - Momochan77**

**Hagi Atairo - Ogrespi**

**Ingrid Eskilsdotter - Cat the Alien**

I must say, you are all so wonderful! I've already received 19 amazing and unique characters! They are all so lovely and I just hope that I can portray them the way you imagined them! I had so much fun with this chapter!

I didn't think that I would have this chapter finished so quickly, but you all just made it so easy to start writing up characters. I've got the next few chapters lined up with things that will be happening with the introduction chapters and I just can't wait! So I hope you all enjoy it as well.

I've decided to move my author's notes down to the bottom for this story and any credit for characters will be here too just how it looks above. I was planning on introducing two more characters this chapter, but everything ended up turning out much longer than I thought it would, so I had to cut off a couple characters and save them for the next chapter. Plus, taking my time with these introductions, I felt like I was already able to delve into the characters.

I've decided to have 30 spots total open for this story, so there are 11 spots left open! And I've only received 2 S-Class OCs, one of which will be the one taking Cordelia's open spot. So if you make an S-Class OC now then they'll have to be ones that have been S-Class for some time since the open spot has been figured out.

Also, I've gotten enough Air/Wind Magic, so if you plan on making a character, please do not use this type of magic any longer as I have plenty of that type. Much appreciated!

And I really, really appreciate you all following that OC form and filling everything out like I asked! It makes things so much easier for me, you have no idea! T.T

So let's head right into those awesome reviews then!

**Dreadburner94 - **Yes! Everything we worked out definitely paid off! It turned out much better than I thought it would, so a huge thanks again! And I think Cordelia should be interesting too. Definitely a much better choice than Gordon! Glad you enjoyed the first chapter and I hope you enjoy this one!

**RansomeNote - **Glad you enjoyed the first chapter! And thank you very much for your OC! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick - **Haha! Yep! A guild on the ocean! I'm glad you like the idea so much! And all the characters I've received so fair have been very interesting, so I hope you enjoy them all! And don't worry! I cannot forget about Thunder Stone! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**reven228 - **LOL! I'm happy to see how much you liked this idea! I'm having so much fun with it! So I hope you continue to enjoy it as well as the new chapter!

**Origm2012 - **^.^ I'm glad that you enjoyed the opening chapter so much! It was so much fun to write! And I thought having her family on the guild would be good. This way we can get some history from them, plus I felt that it added more to Cordelia's character this way. And I tend to like metal type magic quite often (cough*Gajeel*cough), but I'm glad you liked that too. And I'm having way too much fun with Cordelia's magic. I think that's made more apparent in this chapter, lol. And yeah, definitely damages in the future to come! But I'm glad you've enjoyed the start to this! And I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **I'm glad to have sparked your interest again with a new story! And yeah, I think it should be interesting without any slayer types too! I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

**Cat the Alien - **CHA! Glad to hear how much you're liking this idea! And thank you again for Ingrid! I hope I got her character right for you because she was so much fun to write, especially as Cordelia's rival! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **LOL! Yeah, I know, starting a new story and everything, but the idea just wouldn't leave me alone! It's those plot bunnies! They get me every time! But I'm glad you like this idea and the first characters introduced! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **I'm glad you're liking the idea of the story! And I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep, a guild in the ocean! And thank you again for your character! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed that first chapter so much! And yeah, we got that first fight scene! And we got more in this chapter! So I hope you enjoyed it all!

**Ogrespi - **Well I'm always happy to see a new reader! And I'm glad you liked the first chapter! And thank you again for your character. I had so much fun writing him in this chapter and I hope I got him written correctly for you! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter as well!

Once again, thank you all for your submissions! If you don't see your character in this chapter, don't worry, they will be showing up shortly!

I think that's it for now!

So I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	3. A Swordsman, a Biker and a Crush

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter! I fear I may be spoiling some of you with these quick updates, lol.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Swordsman, a Biker and a Crush**

**April 3, X792 - Evening**

Cordelia, Zinnia and Bones had made their way back to the front ship that evening after Amelia had found them on the middle vessel, letting them know that Hagi had finished his work. They had just walked onto the top deck of the white boat and they could already see a difference. The gold embellishments on the ship shined brightly in the dying sun of the evening. Cordelia hadn't seen the ship sparkle like that since Duke had been the guild master. It already had her smiling as she made her way down into the cabin that held the main office. A light scent of lemons filled the air, the disgusting smell from earlier completely gone. It almost felt refreshing to walk through the small hallways of the ship.

Cordelia threw the door open when they had reached it, seeing Hagi filing away a last few things in the large filing cabinets the office held. There were six filing cabinets total that lined the back wall of the office, three pushed to the right of a large window and three pushed to the left. In front of the filing cabinets was a huge, oak desk that held a small lamp, a green mat that had a calendar on top of it, a cup that held a plethora of pens and a simple blue coffee mug. There was also a wooden sign holder that was empty for the time being, but Cordelia assumed that it would eventually hold a plaque with her name on it. On the right wall was a huge map of Earthland and all the waters that surrounded it. Cordelia guessed that this was brand new since it didn't hold any holes or markings from pins or markers. There was a bin next to it that held several other rolled up maps for when she needed other ones to use or to look at other parts of the world or different oceans. The left side of the of the office was left blank and empty for the moment.

"Hagi…it's amazing!" Cordelia said, smiling as she twirled around in the now open office, "There's so much more room than I thought there would be!"

"And you even got the lights to work too!" Zinnia grinned as she flicked the lights on.

"I told you I would have everything cleaned up. Just don't let it get that bad ever again," Hagi said, still filing away the last few things he had lying on the desk, "I left the left side of the room blank for you to decorate yourself though. Oh, and everything in the filing cabinets are all the information on all the mages and crew members for Storm's Helm. I made sure not to look in the files, but I did alphabetize them all by last names."

"What letter are you on now?" Cordelia asked.

"Z of course," he answered, placing the last file in the last cabinet on the left side.

Cordelia quickly ran to the cabinets on the right side and pulled them open until she found the section labeled 'E'. She snickered as she pulled out a file that read 'Eskilsdotter, Ingrid' on the top tab.

"What are you doing, Delia?" Zinnia asked, quirking an eyebrow when she saw the name on the folder.

"Nothing, nothing," Cordelia said innocently as she dropped the folder onto the desk and pulled out a black permanent marker from the pen cup. She quickly started drawing crude designs on the file while adding in a few names and slurs she associated with the woman the file belonged to.

"Is that really necessary?" Amelia asked.

"What are you talking about?" Cordelia replied with an innocent smile as she called out her Chaos Tanto, "I'm just adding some pizzazz to this file," she said, continuing to smile as she stabbed the folder multiple times.

The rest of the group sweat dropped at her actions. Cordelia gave the file one last good stab, the knife only going about halfway through it considering the size of it, but she now felt satisfied in her work. She then filed it back away in its proper place, snickered one more time, and then turned back to the group after shutting the cabinet.

"Thanks again for cleaning everything up!" she grinned, "It's really wonderful. I can move my stuff into the bedroom on this ship too, right?"

Hagi shook his head, trying to forget about what he had just witnessed with the murdering of the file. He would have to make sure to stay on Cordelia's good side, "Yes. This ship has been cleaning from top to bottom, so you are free to move in whenever you like."

"What did you do with Gordon's things…if he had any that is?" Zinnia questioned.

"Most of what I found was trash, but what little he did have I had Amelia take to him. I believe she mentioned him being passed out on the main vessel still."

"I tried to poke him awake, but the man wouldn't budge!" Amelia replied.

"So that's why he had a pile of crap sitting around him," Cordelia smirked.

"I think one of the bartenders said that Nanami got to him," Zinnia mentioned, causing Cordelia to laugh with her.

"I might just have to give Nanami some bonus jewels for that," Cordelia said, "Now! Who would like to help me move my stuff into my new room?!"

**. : + : .**

As the small group worked together to move Cordelia's things from the women's S-Class dorms to the head ship, Cordelia missed the figure walking up to her until it was too late. She was walking backwards as she talked to Zinnia when she felt her back bump into a chest. She turned around to see a tall, blonde man standing in the middle of the bridge that connected the head ship to the dorm ship. She sighed upon recognizing who it was.

"Yes Jean?" she asked.

Jean's full name was Jeannot Marcus, but he had introduced himself as Jean five years ago and the shortened name stuck. He was twenty-four years old and stood tall at 6'1" with light skin. His body was agile looking, but he did have a good amount of muscle, adding a toned appearance to him as well. His long, blonde hair was kept neat and tidy, allowing for one to see his almond shaped, sharp blue eyes. His guild mark, when it could be seen, was silver in color and located on his right bicep. He always tended to lean more towards fancy or high class clothing and his outfit that day was no exception to this. He wore a white dress shirt with a gold vest over top of it, the top two button on the vest being left undone. He also wore a pair of white pants tucked into a pair of high quality, brown riding boots that reached up to his shins.

"I suppose congratulations are in order, Cordelia," he began in a cheerful tone.

Cordelia stood there quietly for a moment. While Jean was usually a good hearted man, she had been surprised by his cheerfulness. He hadn't really hidden the fact that he disliked Gordon, especially as a leader, so she had assumed he would have been one of the few that would have tried to overthrow the man. He had never come right out to say that was what he was doing, but as a previous S-Class mage, Cordelia had picked up on the fact that he had been training more recently. She had assumed that he had been training to take on Gordon and that was why she had challenged the metal mage when she had. She didn't want anyone beating her to the punch! But Jean continued to simply stand there and smile at her. She finally decided to give in, thinking that the man truly meant well by what he said.

"Well thanks, Jean," she grinned up at him, "Now then, I have to get back to work. I would like to get my bed into my new room before it gets dark out."

She began to make her way around him, but before Zinnia could hurry up and join her, Jean interrupted them again.

"The only reason you're the guild master is because my alarm clock didn't go off!" he suddenly shouted.

"I knew it!" Cordelia shouted in reply as she turned around to face him again, "You are pissed that I got the guild master position!"

"I'm not mad that you got it! I'm mad that I missed out on the chance to get it! So I want to challenge you for it!"

"What?! Hell no!"

"Every guild master has to take on every challenge they receive no matter how new they are! Those are the rules!"

"But…Jean! Come on! Give me a break! I just won the spot from Gordon this morning and I ended up fighting against Ingrid too! I'm tired!"

"Those are the rules!" he repeated as he called forth on of the rapiers from his re-quip space. This one was called Silver Point and was his usual standard blade. He even had several copies of the sword within his re-quip space just in case he lost or broke one. He pointed the end of the rapier at Cordelia, the tip of it almost touching her nose, "En garde!"

Cordelia stared down at the pointed end and then back up at Jean with a flat stare. She then grabbed onto the blade and pulled it down before releasing it and letting it smack the man in the face.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he said quickly as he grabbed his face with his free hand, "What the hell?!" he shouted, looking down at Cordelia with a long red line across his face now.

"Looks like I just won," Cordelia snickered, "So that means you have to wait a year to challenge me again."

"What?! That's cheap and you know it!"

"Those are the rules," she replied in a mocking tone.

"You shouldn't underestimate me!"

"I'm not trying to, I just found a quick way to resolve this issue," she shrugged, "But really, I have other things I need to finish up with, so if you don't mind…actually you know what! You can help us move things!"

"Why would I help you after you just smacked me in the face with my own sword?!"

"Hey, that was your own fault," she answered with a laugh, "But we could use a big guy to help out with some of the larger furniture."

"What about Eli and Seth? Aren't you always using them for things like this? Where are those bodyguards of yours anyways? And just how do you plan on making up this guild master challenge to me?"

"So many questions," Cordelia sighed, "First off! They aren't my bodyguards! They just happen to be big guys that I hang around with! And second, they've been out on a mission. Seth had an S-Class mission that he needed help on and he asked Eli to go with him. And if you really want a way to feel better about yourself," she said, earning an annoyed look from Jean, "There is always the S-Class spot that's now open from my move up. Maybe you should aim for that instead of the guild master position. Unless you have a problem with the way I'll be running things?"

Jean stared at her for a moment before sighing out heavily, "No, I don't have a problem with you being the guild master. Anyone is better than Gordon. I'm just upset that I overslept."

"Maybe one day you'll have another chance," she smiled at him, "But for now, try out for the S-Class spot. I plan to have a challenge tomorrow for it. If no one goes for it but you, then you'll get the spot, but I highly doubt you'll have no other challengers, so you should be ready for a fight or two."

"Of course I'll be ready!" he said, striking a pose with his sword.

"Good. Now, put that sword away and help us out already!"

"I still don't know how I was dragged into helping you out with this. Where is that brother of yours? Shouldn't he be helping out?" Jean asked as he recalled his rapier.

"I haven't seen that idiot since this morning. He's probably still off sulking somewhere because I made him help me hunt down Gordon."

"Well, I'll have to give him a piece of my mind later," Jean huffed, "Leaving such pretty ladies to do such heavy lifting," he added, smiling back at Amelia and Zinnia while sending them both a wink.

Amelia simply blushed in response while Zinnia giggled lightly and sent her own wink back at him.

"Come on Casanova," Cordelia sighed, pulling him along with her after seeing the light blush across his face from Zinnia's reaction to his flirting. The man stumbled along with the woman before managing to regain his composure and walking with her, "We have some heavy lifting to do and I can't be having you flirting with the girls and getting distracted."

"I think you're only mad that he didn't wink at you too, Cordelia!" Hagi called out from the back of the group, "I could always set you up on date with our handsome Jean if you're really feeling that left out!"

"No dates!" Cordelia shouted in reply.

"But you have to let me set you up with someone! I did clean that disgusting ship for you!"

"I said no dates!" Cordelia continued as she came to the deck of the women's S-Class dorms, still dragging Jean along with her.

"She'd probably be more open to them if Eli were here," Zinnia said back to them with a laugh.

"ZI! SHUT UP!" Cordelia yelled, a blush across her face.

"Ohhhhh, Eli," both Amelia and Hagi said together, leaning together as they fanned themselves.

"Why is everyone always fawning over that man?" Jean grumbled.

"Have you looked at him?!" Amelia and Hagi continued to speak at the same time, "He's like a God! It's like when he was made that he was sculpted from marble dipped in gold and then covered in diamonds!"

"He's really not _that_ good looking," Cordelia mumbled.

"Sweetheart, don't lie to yourself," Hagi said, appearing next to Cordelia with a knowing smile, "I could set you up with him too if you really wanted."

Cordelia sputtered in reply as she blushed heavily, "N…no thank you! I can fend for myself in the romance section of my life!"

"And that's why you're still single," Zinnia said with a smirk.

"No one asked for your advice!" Cordelia shouted, "Now look! We have a room to finish moving. I don't want to hear anything else about dating or good looking men! So move it!" she finished, stomping off towards her room with the others following closely behind her.

Zinnia made her way over towards Hagi with a sly smirk, "You should really work at the Eli angle," she whispered to him, causing a large grin to spread across the young man's face.

**. : + : .**

"Tell me why you forced me onto this deathtrap again?!" a young man by the name of Chris Somata shouted.

He was twenty-three and was on the shorter side, standing at 5'7". His build was slim and muscular while his skin was lightly tanned. His messy, dark brown hair was spiked upwards with bright red highlights, pieces of his hair falling into emerald green eyes that were a bit wolf-like in appearance. When it could be seen, his dark red guild mark was on the upper left side of his torso. He wore a bright red t-shirt with dark blue jeans and dark green combat boots. Over top of his outfit he wore a black, sleeveless trench coat with several lines in light blue, green and yellow going all across it in random directions. He also had a tattoo of a claw mark on his upper right back when it could be seen. Finally, on his right wrist was a sliver bracelet that had three gems embedded in it in the colors of blue, green and yellow.

"You said you were bored and I needed to take Betty out for a spin anyways!" a young woman replied, revving the engine of her motorbike.

This woman was named Tazz Makia and was also twenty-three years old like Chris. She stood an inch shorter than him at 5'6" with an olive skin tone. Her build was a bit slim with enough curves to prove her feminine side, though she had some muscle tone built up as well. Her forest green hair was styled into a mass of curls that reached her chin, a few messy bangs falling into golden eyes that were filled with fire and passion, appearing a bit cat-like. Her white guild mark sat below her left collarbone, sitting a bit closer to her shoulder than her neck. She wore a pair of teal, high waisted genie styled pants with red sandals and a mustard yellow tank top. Her dark red, riding goggles were currently pulled down over her eyes. Finally, she had a snake-bite piercing in her bottom lip with silver studs and she had a beauty mark above her right eyebrow.

"I could have just gone fishing with the guys! I don't need to be drug across this place on this thing! What if we fall over the edge!"

"Don't worry so much! Ace never complains when I take him with me!"

"That's because Ace is an idiot!"

"At least he's a fun idiot! Now let's go!"

Tazz revved the engine again before hitting the gas on the bike and taking off from the co-ed dorms ship deck. She drove straight up the bridge that led up to the middle ship, feeling Chris holding onto her waist tightly to ensure that he wouldn't fall off. The bike jumped up a bit higher than it should have, bringing the pair down hard out onto the main deck. Tazz sped up even more, causing the bike to swerve a bit before it took off in a straight line. A number of people had to move out of the way as Tazz maneuvered her way through tables and chairs that had been spread back out across the deck from that morning's earlier fight.

"Don't hit anyone!" Chris shouted.

"Then they should be smart enough to move out of the way!"

"Well it's not like you're going for any points here!"

"Awww, why not?! Let's say chicks are worth ten points and men are worth five!"

"Why are the guys worth less?!"

"Because you all are the dumber species!"

"Oh yeah, because I'm the one that's driving a motorbike on a boat!"

"You're the one that decided to join me!"

"More like I was forced," he mumbled.

"Stop complaining and keep track of the points for me!"

"Don't actually hit anyone!"

Even though Tazz had seemed serious on their game, she made sure to keep her distance from actually hitting anyone as she continued her trek across the deck. As they continued to drive, Chris finally became used to the feeling and began to loosen up. He actually laughed as Tazz skidded around the table that Nanami sat at, Tazz pulling down an eyelid and sticking her tongue out at the violet haired woman. He watched Nanami's eye twitch at the action, Tazz and the S-Class mage having been rivals practically since the day that Tazz arrived on the ship. Though, it was Tazz that was the one that pushed the rival more than Nanami, the green haired woman always managing to find a way to get under Nanami's skin. Though, before the space cutting mage could do anything, Tazz straightened out the motorbike and took off across the deck again.

"You know she's probably going to get back at you for what you just did," Chris said.

"So what?" Tazz retorted, "She needs to loosen up somehow and what better way to do that than with a spar?"

"Whatever you say," Chris shrugged, "We're almost at the end of the line here, so where do plan on going now?"

"How about we visit out new guild master!" she answered, heading for the metal bridge that led down onto the front middle ship that was used as a large storage area. It housed everything from weapons to food to tools to materials to repair the ship. The bike easily made its way down the bridge and across the deck towards the sparkling white ship. Though, Cordelia had seemed to be ready for them as she was standing at the end of the bridge leading up to the white ship with a cannon at the ready.

"Holy hell! Don't go up that bridge!" Chris shouted, his eyes wide upon seeing the cannon aimed at them.

"This place just got cleaned up, so you better take yourselves elsewhere!" Cordelia shouted, "I don't want bike marks everywhere!"

"Party pooper!" Tazz shouted as she turned away from the bridge that led up to the head boat. Instead, she moved towards a bridge that led out to the left side boat that was used for training. They made their way across that bridge and out onto the deck just in time to dodge a red laser beam. As soon as Tazz dodged the beam, the pair on the bike was met with a pressurized water beam to the face. The pressure from the water was enough to knock them off the bike and have them sliding backwards in a tangled heap while the bike skidded forward across the deck. Eventually, the two stopped rolling across the deck and the bike had come to a stop as well.

"Yo! Are you two all right?!" a voice shouted out to them.

They looked up to see a young man running over towards them and recognized him as Rio Storms. This man was twenty-one and stood tall at 6'2" with tanned skin. He had an athletic build and messy and spiky black hair that fell all around him. It had blue highlights in it and pieces of it fell into his dark blue eyes. His light blue guild mark was located on the right side of his chest. He wore a black jacket that he left open with no shirt underneath. He also wore dark blue skinny jeans held up by a white belt and black, laced boots. Finally, he had an onyx stud in his right ear as well as having a gold tattoo of a trident on his right shoulder blade.

"Yeah man, we're good," Chris answered, pushing one of Tazz's legs off of his stomach. Rio then reached a hand out to help Chris stand up.

"You idiot! You're supposed to help a girl up first! Especially after hitting them in the face with water!" Tazz grumbled loudly from the ground, referring to Rio's Hydration Magic.

"Heh, not when that girl was the one to ride into the middle of the training grounds," Rio smirked, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back in a lazy and easy-going way.

"Tch," was all she replied with.

"Here," another voice said with a hand appearing in front of Tazz's face.

She looked up to see that another young man stood in front of her. She recognized him as Lance Herald, a nineteen year old boy with an athletic build like Rio. He was almost just as tall as the water mage too, standing at six feet even. His skin was tanned, matching nicely with his messy brown hair and dark emerald green eyes. His aqua guild mark, when is could be seen, was located on his back and he had a burn mark on his left shoulder that was covered up most of the time as well. He wore a loose, red t-shirt with faded blue jeans held up with a brown belt with a gold buckle. He had a brown knife holster on his left leg and he wore brown boots. On his right arm was a black sleeve that reached from his wrist up to his shoulder under the shirt. On his left shoulder he had a green bandana tied around it. And underneath the shirt was a hidden, thin plate of chest armor. He had also been the one to shoot off the laser beam, having Laser Magic.

"Thanks," she said, taking the offered hand and letting him pull her up to her feet, "At least someone around here has manners!"

"Whatever," Rio replied, "If we treated you like a princess, you'd kick our asses for it."

"He sort of has a point," Lance agreed, "You're kinda like that."

"You're all against me!" she cried.

"I thought you two were supposed to be fishing?" Chris questioned, ignoring Tazz for the moment.

"We were," Lance answered, "But then we got a bit bored and decided to do some training while we waited for you to come back."

"I want to fish!" Tazz shouted as she ran over to her bike to make sure it was okay. She had moved her goggles to sit on top of her head before she picked the bike up to check over it. Once she was satisfied that things were fine, she walked it back over with her to where the guys were standing.

"Are you sure you can do that without blowing something up?" Rio asked with a smirk.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" she shouted, "It's not like I'm going to use my Pulse Magic on a fish! Just show me how to do it!"

"Rio's right," Lance added, "Don't be sending out an spells at a fish when we catch a big one," he laughed, "Then we'll just have fish guts everywhere and no one wants that."

"I'm not stupid! Keep picking on me and you'll be sorry!"

"Okay, okay," Lance said, waving his hands in defense, "Let's catch some fish," he continued as he led the group to sit on the side of the ship where he and Rio had left their fishing supplies.

**. : + : .**

Jordan Dawson, more commonly known by Jay, sat at one of the tables set up on the middle ship. He stared over at Ace Murdock, sometimes still wondering how he had ended up becoming such good friends with the man. Jay was seventeen and had only been with Storm's Helm for two years, but somewhere in the at time span he had become friends with Ace and the older man had even taken him under his wing a bit when it came to his swordsmanship. He stood at the same height as Ace at six feet even and he had tan skin with a leaner build that was just starting to build up some decent muscle. His dirty blonde hair was short and scruffy in appearance and his eyes were a piercing green. He also had a scar across his upper left cheek. He wore a dark gray shirt with the sleeves reaching down to his elbows. He also had on cargo shorts, a pair of skater shoes and a red bandana tied around his neck.

"What's your problem?" Ace grumbled after taking a gulp of his beer, "You keep staring at me."

"So," Jay began taking a sip of his own beer, "What do you think of Cordelia becoming the new guild master?"

"I was waiting for the conversation to end up at my sister," Ace mumbled with a roll of his eyes.

Jay blushed slightly, but chose to ignore the comment for the time being, "Just answer the question, stupid."

"I think it'll be good for the guild," Ace answered, "She'll be a good master."

"Wasn't your dad the master of the guild at one point too?"

"Yeah," Ace answered with a proud smile, "He's actually one of the longest reigning masters. He got the title when he was eighteen and kept it for nineteen years until he passed down the title to Duke. Duke then kept his title for ten years until he unfortunately lost to Gordon."

"So Finn never actually lost the title through a challenge?"

"Nope," Ace said, "He just decided to step down for his own reasons and he handed the title over to Duke since the two were best friends and he trusted Duke. It's not the usual way that a new guild master takes over, but it's not unheard of."

"So it seems that Cordelia has some big shoes to fill."

"Yeah, but she's a Murdock. She can handle it. Plus, she's got me here to help out."

"Well, your sister is smarter than you, so I don't know what you'll do to help out," Jay snickered.

The blonde man was answered with a sword to his beer glass, slashing it in half with the beer spilling out everywhere across the table.

"What a waste," Jay sighed sadly as he watched Ace place his sword back into its holster, "I always forget how quick you are with a blade."

"It would be good to remember for future references," Ace grumbled at him.

"Ace! There you are!" Cordelia shouted, suddenly showing up behind her brother and hugging him tightly, "You disappeared all day!"

"Yeah, to get away from you and your pushy attitude," he snapped, earning him a quick bop on the head from his sister. He looked to the side to see Zinnia and Bones there with the new guild master, Amelia, Hagi and Jean having disappeared to go do their own things.

"I wouldn't have to be so pushy with you if you'd just listen to me in the first place," she bit back before looking over at the blonde that sat at the table. She smiled widely at him, having always liked Jay. She felt that he balanced her brother out nicely, especially in the intelligence department. Ace might be good with a blade, but coming up with battle plans just wasn't his forte, "Evening Jay!"

"Cordelia!" he answered louder than he had meant to, causing Zinnia to laugh in response while Ace sent him another eye roll. Jay quickly stood up and pulled the chair out for her, "Here you are. Please have a seat."

Cordelia looked down to see that beer was still dripping off of the table, "Maybe we should clean up first?"

"Ah! Right!" he answered, running off to grab a towel.

"He's as lively as ever," Zinnia said.

"Tell me about it," Ace mumbled.

"Be nice!" Cordelia chided, bopping her brother on the head again.

Jay quickly returned and began wiping the table off. Once things were cleaned up, he offered his seat to Cordelia again. Though, he felt his eye twitch in annoyance when he heard Ace laughing at him under his breath. He quickly threw the beer drenched towel in the man's face, the wet cloth easily sticking to Ace's face.

"What the hell?!" Ace shouted.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," Cordelia snickered, "I thought you liked beer."

"Not in the face from a towel!"

"Easy killer," Cordelia said, waving off his anger, "You'll pop a blood vessel getting all worked up like that."

"Tch, I really don't wan to hear that from someone like you," Ace grumbled, but relaxed back into his seat nonetheless.

By this time, both Zinnia and Jay had grabbed extra chairs for themselves while Bones had laid down at Cordelia's feet. Zinnia pulled out a deck of cards from her pocket and set them in the middle of the table, "Since there's four of here, it's the perfect time to play some cards."

"Sure," the others answered as they watched Zinnia pull the cards out and begin shuffling them.

"Congrats, by the way," Jay said, looking over at Cordelia, "For winning the guild master spot."

"Thanks Jay," she smiled at him, "That means a lot. Think I'll do a good job at it?"

"You'll be the best!" he answered, once again louder than he had meant to, "You're a really good mage and strong and pretty and -" though, he suddenly stopped himself after he realized what he was saying. He coughed out in embarrassment and stood from the table quickly, "Ah, excuse me for a moment. I need to go grab a beer."

"I'll come with you!" Cordelia announced, not really having picked up on the boy's embarrassment or why he had been embarrassed in the first place, "I need a beer too!"

The two walked off, Cordelia practically dragging Jay along with her, still being oblivious to his current embarrassment.

"He still likes her, doesn't he?" Zinnia asked, looking over at Ace.

"Tch, yeah," he answered, "I just wish he wouldn't do that flirting in front of me."

"Poor boy doesn't know what he's doing until he's actually doing it. Don't hold it against him," Zinnia said, "Plus, I think it's cute that he has a crush on her. Though, Cordelia is a bit oblivious to it."

"Makes it worse for him, I think," Ace said.

"Well the poor guy is going to have an even harder time when Eli and Seth get back. I'm willing to bet they'll roll in some time tomorrow," she mentioned, "They've been gone for a few weeks, so Cordelia is going to have a hay day when they return."

Ace groaned loudly as he dropped his head to the table, "Those two…and mix in an excitable Cordelia in there…can you just kill me now?"

"You'll survive," she laughed lightly, patting the man on the head, "Plus, it'll be fun and exciting to have them back at the guild."

"You always enjoy the weirdest things, Zi," Ace mentioned.

"That's what makes me wonderful!" she grinned as she began to deal out the cards before Cordelia and Jay got back to the table.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Jeannot 'Jean' Marcus - reven228**

**Chris Somata - frozenwolf94**

**Tazz Makia - IdentityCrisis.03**

**Rio Storms - ThePrinceOfLight**

**Lance Herald - Joshua1277**

**Jordan 'Jay' Dawson - Alienwolf**

Once again, you all are just awesome! I've received all the OCs I need and all the S-Class mages as well! So thank you very much! So at this point I am NO LONGER ACCEPTING OCS. If I feel the need to eventually add more, I will open submissions again and let you all know how many I need. But for right now, I'm full up on what I need.

But all the characters I have received have been amazing and I just love them. Once again, I hope I have portrayed the newly introduced ones this chapter and I greatly enjoyed writing them all!

I still have the introduction chapters to get through and then I have the first arc…or I guess mission figured out. After that first arc, more split up missions will be happening, so if you all have some ideas, you are more than welcome to send them in.

I do have two dark guilds in mind right now, one will have a larger roll than the other, but when I need to start collecting villains for them, I'll let you all know and will open submissions on them as well. For the time being though, please do not send in an OC for the dark guilds until I open submissions as I need to figure out how many spaces will be open and such. I will let you all know when you can send those in though!

I don't think I have much else to say right now, so we'll head right into the review responses!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed the last chapter!

**reven228 - **Yeah, it's a bit of a wonder how Gordon last so long as guild master, lol. But I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter and the interactions between all the characters. And I hope I was able to write Jean properly for you! I really do like his character! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **Got your PM and you should see another response from me soon about it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Haha! Yeah, Cordelia definitely has some fire in her! But the guild should remain relatively safe…hopefully, lol. And I'm glad that you liked the first grouping of OCs! And both Hagi and Nanami were fun for me to write, so I'm glad you liked them so much. But yeah, poor Hagi being thrown around like that! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**CryptozoologyConundrum - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed Hagi's character! He's so much fun for me to write! And I'm glad to hear that you liked the fight scenes too. And I really enjoyed the interaction between Squall and Nanami, so I'm glad to hear that you like how that turned out too. And LOL on the fancy pirate hats! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **No worries about the length of the review. But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much! And yeah, I think most people on the ship are pretty happy about the change in guild masters since Gordon was just a poor example of one. And I'm glad you enjoyed Squall and Hagi so much. I really enjoyed writing them myself. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Yeah, I think Hagi managed to make it onto most people's favorites list. But he was super fun to write! And I'm glad you enjoyed the fight between Cordelia and Ingrid. That one was fun for me too. And eventually we'll find out who fixes the ship. I can see Cordelia forcing Gordon to do it, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Yeah, that Cosplay Re-Quip was great when I read over the submission! Plus the personality to go along with it was great, so I'm glad to hear you like him too! And I'm glad to hear that you like the concept of the story as a whole! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **^.^ Glad to hear that you loved the new chapter! And it seems that Squall and Hagi are making most people's favorites list. And yeah, I figured Mia and Hagi would work really well as best friends, so I'm glad to hear you like that friend pairing as well! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **CHA! Glad to hear you're enjoying the new story so much! And yeah, I figured moving things to the bottom might be better this time around. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Glad to hear that you're enjoying the scenes with Gordon, lol. And yeah, Ingrid was sent in as a rival for Cordelia and it just worked out so well that I had to do it. Plus, Cordelia is the type to have a rival and she wouldn't just stop that rivalry because she moved up in rank. So I'm glad you liked that bit! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Glad you enjoyed that last chapter! And I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Glad to hear that you liked the last chapter and the friendship between Nanami and Squall. And I'm really happy to hear that I got Hagi's character written so well for you! I had a lot of fun with him! And I haven't decided when or who will be the first person to damage one of the ships, but I'm sure Cordelia is high up on that list, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**RansomeNote - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one too!

**PlaguedAmbition - **^.^ Glad to hear that I could give you a new story to follow! And thank you again for the wonderful character you sent in! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep, Nanami and Squall sure got the one up on Gordon, lol. But I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed the new one as well!

**Dreadburner94 - **CHA! I was so glad to hear that I got Nanami's character written correctly! You know that I tend to worry about those kinds of things, lol. But I had a lot of fun with her scene. And yeah, it's gotta be pretty humiliating for Gordon. I think he'll have a hard time for a while until he's ready to admit that he wasn't doing a good job as a leader and that Cordelia is better suited for the position. But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Happy to hear that you liked the last chapter as well as Hagi's character! He was really fun for me to write! And I'm glad you liked the fight scene for that chapter as well! And I'm happy to hear that I made your day a bit better with a new chapter! Hopefully that happened again with this chapter!

And that's it for now!

I'll have the next chapter up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	4. A Navigator, a Charmer & an S-Class Mage

**A/N: **And another new chapter down!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Navigator, a Charmer and an S-Class Mage**

**April 4, X792 - Early Morning**

Cordelia pushed herself up off her bed, scratching her head tiredly as she yawned widely and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. She glanced over to the window to see sun shining in. She then looked over to the clock next to her bed to see how early it was, popping her back a few times in the process as she stretched herself out. When she saw the time, she guessed that not many members of the guild would be up. Normally, Cordelia didn't like getting up so early, but she figured she should get a head start reading over some of the files on some of the members while also checking out the direction they were heading in for the time being.

She stood up fully from the large bed, taking another moment to stretch out her body again until she was standing on her tip toes for a moment before dropping back flat on her feet and making her way out of her room. Assuming that she would be the only one on the front ship, she just ran up to the navigation area of the ship in her pajamas which consisted of black, cotton shorts and a baggy, blue t-shirt that was big enough to slip off one of her shoulders. Her bare feet padded up the steps that led out from the lower deck. She quickly made her way across the deck until she came to the helm of the ship, entering the small area that the captain normally controlled.

She looked over at the helm for a moment to see it was still for the moment and the guild was still moving in the direction she had left them in the previous night. She turned to look over at the navigation system, though her heart instantly dropped to her stomach when she came face to face with a person. Cordelia shouted loudly in surprise, causing the other person to scream as well. The two went back and forth for a moment like this until they both came to an instant silence, staring at each other for a quiet moment with wide eyes.

The other person was a woman a few years older than Cordelia at twenty-nine. She stood on the taller side at 6'1" with pale olive skin and a more gangly build with just a little muscle and an average sized chest. Her violet guild mark was located on her right collar bone and she had gold stud earrings in both ears. Her fiery auburn hair was cut short revealing eyes of two different colors, the left being hazel and the right being violet. She wore a light lavender halter top with white khaki shorts and red, floppy sandals. She also had on red glasses that were attached to a chain around her neck and gold bangles on both wrists. Finally, she had a small pistol held at her right hip in a holster.

Cordelia was the first to find her voice, shouting at the woman in front of her, "Matilda Tollop! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Morning Cordelia!" the woman replied energetically and in a rapid pace, "Well you see, I was thinking all night, since you're the new guild master that you might need a new navigator. I was trained by the last one and he's already left the ship to retire. Gordon didn't use me much even though I told him I could do the job, but he told me no. I think he was kind of an idiot, but I don't think you are, so I think you should use me as your head navigator. I'm more than capable of doing the job and I have the papers to prove how good I am and I can be really helpful for when you need to sleep and-"

"Oh my God! Stop!" Cordelia shouted, sweat dropping slightly that the woman had actually pulled out a scroll to prove her abilities. Matilda instantly froze as she looked over at Cordelia, the scroll opening up and rolling far out across the floor and outside of the navigation cabin. Cordelia watched the scroll roll across the deck for a moment before turning back to the other woman with a sigh, "How much coffee have you had this morning, Matilda?"

"Ah, let's see," she began, counting over the cups in her head, "The machine can make ten cups a pot and I've had twenty cups I believe since last night and this morning. So that makes it two pots. I've actually got two machines and I brought one with me to place here in the cabin. I thought you might like it too if you plan to be here often. It's my life sustenance so I can't go anywhere without one and-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Cordelia interrupted her again, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She knew that Matilda tended to have more energy than most people on the ships, but Cordelia had just woken up and she just couldn't handle the ball of energy at the moment.

"So…can I have the job? Please let me have the job! I'll do a great job, I promise! You won't be disappointed!"

"Yes! Oh my God, yes! You can have the job!" Cordelia answered loudly. She would say almost anything at that point to get the woman to shut up, "I think I'm gonna need coffee just to deal with you this early in the morning," she mumbled. Really, she didn't mind Matilda and she could normally keep up with her for a good while, but she needed her own cup of coffee and a shower first.

"Really?! That's great! And here!" Matilda smiled brightly as she shoved a mug of hot coffee into Cordelia's hands, "I promise that you've made the right decision! But I think it's time for a quick nap before I get started on my work!"

And with that the woman promptly dropped to the cabin floor in a heap, Cordelia staring at her sprawled out form with exasperation. She then looked down at the cup of coffee in her hands to see that the woman had added cream and sugar to it already for her. She smiled at the liquid before taking a sip of it and enjoying the suddenly quiet atmosphere, "At least I get free coffee and a navigator at night now," she said, leaning against the cabin wall as she stared out over the ocean and watching over Matilda until she woke back up.

**. : + : .**

Cordelia and Matilda were discussing different paths that the ship could take later that morning after Matilda's nap and Cordelia had gotten ready for the day. The new master wasn't sure exactly where to have the guild go for the moment aside for warmer waters. She had mentioned heading towards the islands of Caelum since there were quite a few ports there for them to dock on in order to restock on foods and such. Matilda was going through which ports would be best to head to first when the large, white lacrima crystal began to start beeping and flashing loudly. This crystal acted as a beacon for whenever a boat that belonged to their guild was approaching them. There was another matching lacrima on all the smaller boats that would guide them back to the guild, considering how much they moved. Cordelia and Matilda exchanged glances right before Zinnia came running onto the deck, shouting out to the new master.

"They're back! It's their boat!" the brunette grinned brightly, popping her head into the front cabin.

"No way! Really?!" Cordelia replied, her excitement building quickly. When Zinnia nodded at her, Cordelia squeaked happily and jumped up from her spot, "Sorry Matilda! We'll have to finish this later!"

"No worries!" Matilda called out, laughing as she watched Cordelia run off the boat at full speed, "I'll keep working while you're gone!"

Cordelia ran faster than both Zinnia and Bones, her coat billowing out behind her. She saw that other people had started to make their way over to the right side ship that was used not only for more training purposes, but as storage for all the smaller boats mages used to go inland for missions. She began pushing people out of her way as the crowd grew thicker and thicker. Eventually, she started jumping over people until she stood at the forefront of the growing crowd to watch a motorboat quickly making its way towards the guild. Her smile grew wider as she saw two men on the boat, confirming that Zinnia had been right.

The first man was the easiest to spot, considering the sheer size of him. It was surprising that he wasn't actually tipping the boat over, but the weight of the second man in the back of the boat managed to keep things even. This man was known as Seth Ornison. He was thirty-one, an S-Class mage and probably the tallest member of the guild at 6'9". Along with his tall stature, his build was bulky and muscular. Though, he was well proportioned for his size. His skin was a light brown tan while the guild mark on his left hand was dark blue. His long black hair was tied back in a ponytail that reached the center of his back and his light green eyes shined brightly in the sun. He wore black and white camouflage, cargo shorts that went past his knees with black sneakers and a thin, white short-sleeved hoodie that he left unzipped. He had a few small scars across his body, but the most prominent scar was the five inch marking along his left pectoral. The man also had several tattoos along his body, but only two could be seen at the moment. The first was on his abdomen and was in the shape of a tiger's claw. The second was on his right pectoral and was in the shape of two droplets that represented a komodo dragon's venom.

The second man that sat at the back of the boat and was guiding it towards the guild was named Eli Winchester. He wasn't as tall as Seth, but he still had some height to him at 6'3"; and he was only a couple years younger than the S-Class mage at twenty-nine. His build was toned and muscular almost to the point of perfection. His skin was a flawless bronze and his teeth practically sparkled when he smiled widely. His navy blue hair was slicked back in a messy, handsome way, reaching down to the nape of neck. His golden eyes were even brighter than Seth's green ones in the sun and they held a playful charm to them. His white guild mark was located on his left shoulder. He wore a blue, skin tight and sleeveless under armor shirt that ended halfway up his neck. He wore a pair of dark jeans with it that were held in place by a black leather belt with a silver buckle. The jeans were tucked loosely into a pair of heavy, steel-toed black boots. He also wore a black leather gun holster on his back and shoulders that held a pair of hand guns on either side of him.

"Looks like the usual crowd was created to greet you home," Eli said with a smile, looking over at the other man in the boat.

Seth laughed loudly at the comment before replying, "I think they're all here to see you more than me."

"Is it true?!" Eli shouted up at the crowd, "Are you all here to see me?!" he continued, talking more to the women of the crowd than the men. Most of the women began to call down to him and coo over the man. Eli sent them all a charming smile, causing a few of the women to faint from it.

"ELI!" Cordelia shouted grabbing the two men's attention. Seth began laughing again while Eli's smile quickly dropped as they watched Cordelia jumping down towards them.

"What do you think you're doing, you idiot?!" Eli shouted, trying his best to make sure to catch the woman falling towards him. It didn't help much as she continued barreling towards him and tackled him right off the boat and into the water. The pair quickly popped back up out of the water, their wet hair plastered to their faces, "Cor! What's the deal?!"

"It took you guys forever to come back home!" she answered loudly, splashing more water at him. As he moved his arms to shield himself, it gave Cordelia the chance to move in and hug him tightly, "Welcome home!"

Eli finally smiled again as he hugged her back, "You always have one hell of a way welcoming a guy home."

"It wouldn't be home if she didn't," Seth said as he reached down with one hand to yank the two out of the water. With ease, he lifted them both by the back of Eli's shirt and sat them down in the boat, "You better have a hug for me too."

"Of course I do!" she smiled as she turned towards him and hugged him tightly despite still being wet. Though, Seth didn't seem to mind as he returned the hug, absently picking her up in the process, "So I take it the mission went well?" she asked after she was set back down. She was ringing her hair out as the two men connected the smaller boat onto ropes that hung on the side of the larger ship in order to pull it up.

"Yeah, the monsters terrorizing that fishing village have all been taken care of," Seth answered.

"Still don't know why you needed me," Eli said, "You could have easily taken them out by yourself."

"You know I'm not that great at negotiating," Seth answered with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his head in the process, "The town hadn't set a price since they didn't know how many monsters there were. You always manage to strike a good deal, so I took you along. Plus, it's always better to take a mission with someone rather than go by myself."

"It's more like you used him for his looks," Cordelia snickered.

"Just because I can strike a deal on my natural good looks and boyish charm alone isn't a reason for you to get all jealous, Cor," Eli replied with a smirk.

Cordelia puffed her cheeks out in annoyance, "Anyone who thinks you look good is an idiot!" she snapped, "Now then! Dry me off properly!"

"Why should I use my magic to dry you off after you just insulted me?" Eli questioned as he began to help Seth pull the boat up the side of the ship. The pair made quick work of it, being about halfway up before Cordelia answered him.

"Because it's an order from your new guild master!" she answered, puffing out her chest in pride.

"What?!" Eli shouted, letting go of his side of ropes. His side of the boat instantly fell, dropping the man back into the water. Seth managed to keep hold of his side of ropes and caught Cordelia in the process to keep her from falling with Eli. She hung at her waist as she laughed down at the man in the water.

"Looks like we have to go back down to get him," Cordelia said, glancing up at the large man holding onto her.

"Seems so," Seth answered, "And it looks like you have a story for us too."

The trio worked together again to move the boat back down to get Eli first and then finally managed to pull the boat all the way up to the top deck of the ship. The two men were quickly greeted by many members of the guild, asking how their mission went and what the monsters were like. Once the excitement of their return had begun to fade, the crowd began to disperse across all the ships again, leaving behind a much smaller group of just Seth, Eli, Cordelia, Zinnia and Bones.

"I thought you were going to wait until we were back to challenge Gordon," Eli began, almost pouting down at Cordelia, "I wanted to watch the fight."

"Well maybe if you two hadn't been out playing with monsters, you could have seen it," Cordelia answered.

"We were working a mission, not playing around!"

"Still not my fault," she huffed, turning away from him with crossed arms, "You were supposed to be here, you know."

"Then why didn't you wait for me?!"

"Because other people were gonna try to go for the spot before me. I couldn't let that happen!"

As the two continued arguing, Seth turned to look over at Zinnia, "Was it a good fight?"

"Of course," she answered with a smile, "She even got to use her Tsar Cannon on him."

"Oh, come on!" Eli shouted upon hearing Zinnia's comment, "You finally got to use that cannon and I wasn't even here to see it?! I was the one that helped you get that weapon in the first place!"

"I think someone's just mad because they don't get to go on missions with Delia anymore," Zinnia said with a knowing grin, catching Eli off guard.

"What is that supposed to mean?! I knew this was going to happen at some point!"

"Doesn't mean you're still not upset about it," Zinnia teased, earning a loud laugh from Seth upon seeing the embarrassed flush across Eli's face.

"It's not often that he's the one blushing," Seth said, "It's good to see him getting a taste of his own medicine for once."

"Is it true?" Cordelia asked, looking up at the man with a curious stare, "Are you upset that you don't get to go on missions with me anymore?"

Eli stayed quiet for a moment before he let out a bark of laughter, "Yeah right! Do you know how troublesome you are on missions?! I should be thanking Gordon for letting you take his spot!"

Cordelia puffed her cheeks out in irritation before turning on her heels and smacking the man with her wet hair in the process.

"Hey! I thought you wanted me to dry you off first?! Where are you going?!" Eli called out to her.

"I can dry myself off in my guild master's quarters! I don't need your Fire Magic for anything!" she snapped in reply before walking off with Bones following closely, the hound giving the man a quick growl first.

"What's her deal?" he mumbled as he watched her leave.

"Such an idiot," Zinnia sighed. She gave the man a quick smack upside the head before running off after her friend.

"What HER deal?!" he repeated much louder, rubbing the back of his head.

Seth slung an arm across Eli's shoulders, causing the other man to lurch forward slightly from the weight, "I think you upset the little miss. You might want to start thinking of ways to make it up to her," he said before chuckling lightly at the pout on the man's face, "And to think, you could have avoided all this if you had just told her the truth instead of trying to laugh it off like an idiot."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said quietly, looking away from the man.

"Is that so?" Seth asked with a grin, "Then maybe you should think about this. Even with all the other S-Class mages and senior mages like her father on this guild, she still only looks to you for approval. Why do you think that is?"

"Like I have a freaking clue," he grumbled.

"Well then, maybe once you figure that out you'll understand why she got so upset," Seth explained, "And you didn't even congratulate her on becoming the guild master. What a horrible friend you are!"

"You didn't either!"

"That's because you kept on arguing with her. Now come on, I'll help you come up with way to make it up to her…over a beer of course! My treat!"

"Yeah, it sure as hell will be your treat!" Eli answered loudly, "This is really all your fault for making me come with you on your mission!"

Seth simply laughed off his comment while the two walked up to middle vessel to head towards one of the bars.

**. : + : .**

"All right!" Cordelia shouted over the crowded deck of the middle ship. She stood up on one of the tables to make sure everyone would be paying attention to her. She waited a few moments in order for things to quiet down before she started talking again, "Today we're going to have a challenge to see who will take over my S-Class spot! It'll be Battle Royale style, so anyone who thinks they've got what it takes to become an S-Class mage is welcome to participate! The last one standing will win the title!"

As she explained the rules of the challenge, Ace, Jay and Seth made quick work of clearing away the tables and chairs across the deck. Eli would have helped out too, but he was still off sulking by the bar about his earlier interactions with the guild master. Cordelia felt her eye twitch when she saw him sitting at the bar, but decided to let the feeling to smack him upside the back of the head go for the moment. She had the up coming battles to focus on and she didn't want the rest of the guild seeing how angry she was at the moment.

"Okay, so anyone who's interested in going for the spot, you may step forward!" she shouted. Jean was the first mage front and center, almost having Cordelia laughing at his quick reaction time. Many other mages began making their way forward and Cordelia knew all of them as she had grown up on the ship. She knew that many of them were good mages, but there were four mages in particular that stood out to her, Jean of course being one of those four.

A young man of nineteen stood a few feet away from Jean. She recognized him as Rin Noburu and knew he had been a part of the guild for the past nine years. He stood tall at 6'2" with messy black hair and friendly, green eyes. His build was slightly thin but with defined muscle and lightly tanned skin. His navy blue guild mark was located on the inside of his right wrist. He wore a classic black tuxedo with coattails, a black bow tie, black dress shoes and a black top hat that was tipped slightly to the side. He also had one silver loop earring in his right ear while he carried two rapiers on either side of him within simple leather loops. The one on his right side was name Jundo and was made of a silver metal and had an angel wing protruding from the bottom of it. The one to his left side was named Uingu and was made of a black metal and had a demonic wing protruding from the bottom of it.

Cordelia was sure that he would be a good opponent for Jean and may even give the blonde man a run for his money if they ended up fighting against each other. She knew that Rin had his eye on an S-Class spot for a while now, so his motivation to move up in rank was just as fierce as Jean's. Her eyes then moved over towards a young and short girl.

Haruna Kimura was only sixteen years old and had only been with the guild for a year, but Cordelia felt that she had enough spunk and power to make it far in the challenge. While Cordelia didn't think that Haruna would actually gain the title of S-Class this time around, the girl was sure to give the others a hard fight for it, considering the work she's seen from her past missions. She had made quite the impression on Cordelia and that's what made the girl stand out. Though, she was fairly short at 5'3" and her build was average for a sixteen year old girl, having subtle curves and a smaller bust. She had mocha colored skin while the guild mark on her right thigh was violet. Her curly, midnight blue hair reached her shoulders and she had gray eyes with specks of hazel. She wore an emerald green, cashmere sweater that exposed her bellybutton. She also wore a gold scarf, puffy beige shorts, white knee-high socks and black boots that reached five inches above her shins, though they had no heels on them. She also had a phoenix earring in her left ear and a black bow in her hair. Finally, she had twin katanas that sat on either side of her hips in a simply, brown leather holster belt.

Haruna also had a slight advantage over the other mages since she also had an Exceed partner by the name of Sho. The little cat had maroon colored fur with blue-green eyes. He wore a black vest and an indigo beanie with holes for his ears to pop through.

The last mage that managed to catch Cordelia's attention was a man of twenty-eight by the name of Ajax Airheart. She knew Ajax on a more personal level since he tended to hang out with her group of close friends. Seth had also vouched for the man's strength several times and she had gone on a few missions with him as well. He stood at 5'10" with lightly tanned skin and a toned and muscled build. His pitch black hair was spiky and slicked back, reaching the nape of his neck, leaving his hazel eyes exposed. His black guild mark was on the right side of his chest while he had a black tattoo of the initials 'A.A.' on the inside of his right wrist. He wore loose fitting, tan cargo pants held up with a simple brown belt with a white muscle shirt and a pair of brown, steel-toed boots. He also had white bandaging starting at his hands and going up to his elbows. The last thing he wore was a tan fisherman's hat, a string hanging on either side of it for when he wanted to take it off and tie it around his neck.

"Is everyone ready?!" Cordelia asked, earning nods from everyone in the participating crowd, "Then let's get this started!" she shouted, quickly jumping off the table before the fighting started. She made her way over to Zinnia just in time to see the first blows being made. Some mages were taken out with the first hit, not being strong enough or smart enough to evade heavy hits made by other mages. Both Cordelia and Zinnia had to duck a few times as bodies flew over them, but they managed to stay in their positions and watch the battles. As the numbers began to dwindle away, a pairing managed to catch their attention.

Haruna came to stand in front of Ajax with a cheerful smile on her face, "Afternoon! Looks like I'll be your opponent now!"

"Why did it have to be you?" Ajax sighed, "I can't hit a girl, especially one so young!"

"Don't worry! I can take anything you dish out!" she continued grinning, "Plus, I have Sho here to pull me out of trouble. Neh, Sho?"

"Yeah, she's got me!" the cat shouted, flying above Haruna with his white wings, "And don't look down on my Haruna! She'll beat you to a pulp!"

"Don't be rude, Sho," she smiled up at the maroon Exceed, "Maybe you should go find me a snack while I fight."

"You're seriously thinking about food now?!" Sho shouted.

"But I haven't eaten anything in a while," she pouted.

"Two hours isn't a while!"

Ajax sweat dropped at the banter between the pair, unsure of how to proceed with the fight. Though, if the girl really wanted an S-Class spot, then she would have to go through him. It wasn't every day that a spot was up for grabs like this and he wasn't going to give it up so easily, even if the brotherly side of him was yelling at him for taking on a girl like Haruna. Instead, he ignored that part of himself and pulled out his brass knuckles from his pockets and put them on.

Without thinking about a plan of attack, he headed straight into battle while shouting, "Air Punch!"

Ajax used his Air Manipulation Magic to propel his fist forward much quicker and harder than it normally would. He brought it straight towards Haruna, the girl barely missing the attack thanks to Sho pulling her up out of the way. Ajax's fist landed right in the deck, creating a large dent in it and almost managed to break through it.

"That was a close one," Haruna sighed, "Thanks Sho!"

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, "Now, go show that punk who's boss!"

"I'm not a punk!" Ajax shouted, "Air Kick!" he announced as he jumped and turned towards Haruna, using his magic to give his kick an added boost like his previous attack.

"Tulip Blast!" Haruna shouted, slamming a hand down on the deck to create a large tulip. The bright pink head of the flower slammed right into Ajax's stomach, instantly stopping his kick from reaching her. He coughed out as he was sent flying backwards, but he managed to catch himself before he skidded too far from her, "Nature Magic isn't something to look down on, neh Sho?"

"That's right!" he quickly agreed.

Haruna smiled brightly as she announced her next attack, "Vine Wrap!" This sent out several large vines towards Ajax, attempting to wrap around him and cease his moving.

Though, Ajax was much quicker than the vines and used a counterattack to keep them at bay, "Whirlwind!" he shouted, moving like a spinning top as he sent out a flurry of kicks and punches. He managed to keep the vines from touching him long enough for him to create an opening, "Air Hop!" he yelled, using air to propel him upwards and away from the vines. He landed on a heavy stack of boxes, using the side of it to push off with another Air Hop straight towards Haruna, "Force Push!" he shouted, sending a forceful gust of air towards the girl. It caused Sho to go flying off far from her while she had to work to keep herself balanced, "Sorry about this, but that spot is mine. Air Punch!" he shouted, slamming a fist into her gut. She coughed out like he did earlier and her small frame was slung across the deck, Zinnia catching her in the process. Her eyes swirled as she limply hung from the older woman's arms.

"Poor thing," Zinnia giggled, "But she put up a decent fight for a while."

"She's a good girl," Cordelia smiled while ruffling the unconscious girl's hair playfully.

"Better keep your guard up, Ajax!" Rin shouted, showing up behind the air mage. Ajax turned and attempted to use a Force Push attack on Rin to move him backwards, but Rin was able to easily use his Redirection Magic on the man. He had out his silver sword, Jundo, and swung it out in front of him to collect the energy from the Force Push, "Energy Sling!" Rin yelled as his sword took in the energy of the magic and then slung it right back at Ajax in a solid bolt of air. Caught off guard by the redirected attack, Ajax wasn't able to come up with a quick counterattack before the air hit him hard and knocked him off the deck and right into the water. Rin laughed down at him before throwing a rope over the edge often boat to allow the man to pull himself back up, "You really need to learn how to use that Air Magic in smarter ways, my friend!"

"Can it!" Ajax snapped, mad that he had been beaten by the man.

Rin laughed once more before turning back towards the battleground. It was then he realized that it had come down to just himself and Jean, "I was hoping that I would get a chance to fight you," he said, looking over at Jean with a playful grin.

"It seems you've gotten your wish then," Jean replied, calling back his Silver Point to bring forth a new rapier, "Cross Point," he announced as a rather elegant blade appeared in his hand. Its blade was silver in color while the handle was lined in gold and the point of the sword was a scarlet red color, "I hope you'll take this fight seriously because I won't be playing around this time."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of going easy on you," Rin answered, still smiling at the older man, "And I still remember our last spar. I must make up for that loss after all."

"Well then, let's begin!" Jean shouted, pointing his blade at the man.

Rin sent his own rapier out in a hard thrust, the thin blades echoing in solid and clear metallic smacks as the two men attempted a normal sword fight at first. Both men were quick in their attacks, the blades almost appearing as flashes as they moved back and forth. Jean made a quicker move, though, and knocked Rin's hat off of his head. This distracted Rin long enough for Jean to move in with a hard strike to his side. Rin jumped away quickly, holding onto his side and leaving his hat behind for now.

"I'll give you the first point," Rin said as he straightened himself out, "But you'll have to do better than that."

"Then let me make things a bit more complicated," Jean smirked as he channeled his magic into his sword, igniting the red tip to make it super heated, "Now, let's take it up another level, shall we? Rythme!" he shouted, sending out a rather fast spell at the man once he was close enough to him. This unleashed eight simultaneous strikes at a rapid pace, causing Rin to have to be on the defense from not only the blade but the heated tip as well, "Coup de Taille!" he continued, not giving Rin the chance to attack. He charged energy through the blade and made a hard downwards chopping motion. Rin had to jump away again in order to dodge the attack. The sword come down on the deck and instantly burnt a hole through it from the heat coursing through it. Jean continued his onslaught though as he stabbed his sword forward while shouting, "Coupe!" This charged energy through the blade again before sending outwards in an explosive beam.

"Energy Absorb!" Rin shouted as he stabbed his own blade forward to take in the beam. The rapier easily captured the magic and stored it away for Rin to use later, "You should know better than to send out a beam of energy like that at me. Jundo will just eat it up. But I'd like to see if you can take your own attack," he smirked, "Blast Release!" he yelled, releasing the entirety of the stored energy back at Jean in another explosive beam.

While the redirected attack was explosive, it was a move that Jean knew since it was his own magic being sent back at him. So it wasn't a surprise he knew exactly how to dodge it without a single hair being singed. He quickly twisted around the attack before taking an aggressive step forward and aiming the burning point of the blade at Rin's neck. The younger man gulped at the close proximity of the heated blade, quickly dropping his own blade in the process.

"I give! You win!" he said while holding up his hands in defeat.

Jean smirked at the younger man, "Glad to see you know when to give up," he said as he recalled Cross Point back into his re-quip space.

"Yes, well, I hope you know that this won't be our last spar," Rin said as he picked his own rapier back up and put it back into its leather loop, "Don't get too comfortable in that S-Class spot, Jean."

"Get some more training in and then you _might_ be ready to handle me."

"And we have our new S-Class mage!" Cordelia shouted, interrupting the two men and throwing Jean's hand up in the air, "Jean Marcus!"

"Haha! I told you I would be ready today!" Jean said, calling out his standard rapier and striking a victory pose with it.

Cheers could be heard from the entire crowd while people surrounded Jean to congratulate him. He was soon lifted up by Seth and sat on the large man's shoulder.

"Let's celebrate properly with drinks!" Seth smiled widely.

"Of course, of course!" Jean answered, "Just put me back down!"

Cordelia smiled at the newest edition to the S-Class team. She knew that Jean would be good for the position. While he could be a bit goofy and a bit of an idiot at times, he took what he did seriously and he had a good heart. He would be someone to look up to and would be respected by others. She felt that her previous S-Class spot was now in good hands.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Matilda Tollop - CryptozoologyConundrum**

**Seth Ornison - Origm2012**

**Eli Winchester - MyDearWatson**

**Rin Noburu - Resmesh**

**Haruna Kimura and Sho - Sakura-Fiction**

**Ajax Airheart - XLil MEkoX**

I had a lot of fun with this chapter between all the new characters and all the interactions and all the fights. So I really hope you all enjoyed it as well.

I have to say the character I most related with this chapter would probably have to be Matilda due to her addiction to coffee, lol! So I had a lot of fun writing her scene and it was easy to write her character since I understood that caffeine need. But all the other characters and their scenes were super fun!

Hmm, I don't think I have much else this time around, so I'll jump right into the review!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Benthino - **Yep, these chapters just seem to be rolling out on their own! And I'm glad you enjoyed that little crush Jay has! ^.^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 - **LOL, well it doesn't seem that you mind me spoiling you with these chapters. But I'm glad to hear that you really like Cordelia's character. I really have a lot of fun writing her. And her rivalry is super fun for me as well! Yeah, I think that challenge from Jean ended so soon mostly because he didn't fully have his heart in it to take her out like he did Gordon, but I think he makes up for that in this chapter. Haha! I loved that description for Eli myself. I kept laughing through the whole chapter after I had written it. It's still making me laugh now actually, lol. Glad you enjoyed the motorbike on a boat. Well I'm glad that pairing in general are working out. I always get worried if the friendships and everything make sense, so it's always good to hear that they do. And I hope I did Seth justice in this chapter! I really love him a lot, so I was worried while writing up his character (like I do for most of them) about getting his personality and such just right. So I hope you enjoyed how he came out as well as the chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Well thanks for the cookie! ^.^ And I'm really glad to hear that Tazz came out the way you pictured her! She appeared quicker than I thought too, but she just worked so well with the group of guys that I had planned to introduce that I couldn't not use her in there! And I'm glad you enjoyed the interactions between Jay and Cordelia. I thought it was rather cute myself, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you enjoyed the chapter as well as Jean's character! And we got to meet Eli this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed his introduction. And I'm glad you enjoyed Jay's crush. I had a lot of fun with that. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yeah, Cordelia was definitely stretching for that win against Jean, poor guy, lol. And I'm glad you enjoyed the scene with Tazz and the boys and how Lance was introduced! And I seem to keep catching you off guard with things in this story, lol. But yeah, that crush on Cordelia turned out so well it seems! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **Glad to hear that I did well with Jean's character! I really had a lot of fun writing him and I really enjoyed his character more in this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it as well! And I'm glad you're enjoying all the other characters as well and how they go about their day in the guild. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Glad you liked the chapter and Tazz's character! And yeah, we're slowly getting to see more side of all the characters, so I'm glad you liked Ace's. And I'm glad you enjoyed the little crush Jay has. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **LOL, yep, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do that to Jean. And I'm glad you're liking Cordelia as the guild master! And I'm glad you're liking all the other characters as well. And I hope I got Ajax right for you in this chapter! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter as a whole!

**Cat the Alien - **Yeah, I wanted this to be a bit lighter than Thunder Stone. It'll still have its moment, but I don't think they'll be anywhere near Thunder Stone's level. But I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying this story along with it's characters. And I'm glad that you like both Zinnia and Tazz. Both girls are really fun for me to write. And I'm super happy to hear that I was pretty spot on with Ingrid! I just love her so much! And her rivalry with Cordelia! And I'm glad you enjoyed that little scene with Ingrid's file. I had quite a bit of fun with that myself, lol. And eventually we'll get to meet Duke…not sure when, but it'll happen! So just keep a look out for him! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad to hear you enjoyed the chapter and the way Chris turned out for you! I'm glad he turned out the way you pictured him! And I hope you enjoyed the S-Class challenge in this chapter! I had a lot of fun with that! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter as a whole!

**Resmesh - **Yep, since Rin and Jean both used rapiers I figured they would work really well as rivals and everything. I also hope Rin turned out well for you too! I really enjoyed his character! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 (Guest) - **Glad to hear you enjoyed the new characters. And yeah, I thought Tazz would work out really well as a rival for Nanami because of how her personality is when compared to Nanami's. So I'm glad you enjoyed that too. And yeah, poor Jean, lol! But I believe he more than makes up for that slip up with Cordelia this chapter! So I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Glad to hear that you like the concept of the guild! And thanks again for your character! And yeah, it seems for this story I got a lot more young adults, which I actually liked a lot, so I'm glad you're enjoying that too. And yeah, I think Squall and Mia are rather cute as well! And Hagi seems to be really well liked among the other readers too. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Definitely poor Jean! But I think he makes up for that mishap this chapter, lol! And I'm glad to hear that you're enjoyed the personalities and interactions of the characters! And as for that challenge to Cordelia by Jean, well, I don't think his heart was fully in it like it would have been against Gordon, so really, I think Jean let her actions slide since the man is an expert swordsman and all and he knows how to fight well. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad to hear I could make your day again with a new chapter! Yeah, that office is way more spacious now thanks to Hagi, lol. And yeah, poor Jean! Losing t with his own weapon! But he gets to make up for it in this chapter! And I'm glad you liked Tazz's character too! I really had fun with her and her motorbike! And I really happy to hear that you enjoyed how Rio turned out. I quite enjoyed writing his character! And I can't wait to write more of him! And I'm glad you liked that scene with Jay and Ace. I figured that they balanced each other out nicely, so I'm glad to hear that it came off that way. But that poor guy having a crush on a woman that's super oblivious to it. Although…she has her reasons to be oblivious like that, lol. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **LOL, glad to hear you enjoyed Tazz and her motorbike! I had a lot of fun with that myself. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

You guys continue to be awesome with your reviews! I really do appreciate that so much!

I think that's all for now!

I'll have the next chapter up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	5. An Advisor, a Lazy S-Class and a Crafter

**A/N: **Finished another chapter! CHA!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5: An Advisor, a Lazy S-Class and a Crafter**

**April 4, X792 - Late Afternoon**

"Jean, would you just finish filling the papers out already," Cordelia sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose from behind the large desk in her new office.

"I just have to make sure everything is in order," the blonde man replied as he leafed through the papers for the tenth time since he had come to the office.

"It's not a freaking life contract!" she growled loudly, "These are just papers to state when you became an S-Class mage and how you did it as well as you agreeing to the position and what it stands for. So just sign and date it already so I can put it in your file!"

Jean quirked an eyebrow over at her, "What has you all wound up?"

Cordelia sighed again as she laid her head on the desk, "Nothing…just stupid men."

"Part of me feels like I should take offense to that, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with me really."

"Sorry," she mumbled, "And no, it has nothing to do with you. More like a playboy who's too stupid for his own good."

"I always thought Eli was rather smart."

"No he's not! He's the biggest idiot ever!" she shouted, suddenly popping out of her seat and waving her arms around frantically. She then instantly froze once she realized what she had just said, "Ahaha," she began again with a nervous laugh, "How did you know it was Eli I was talking about?"

"It wasn't that hard," he said with a roll of his eyes, "You're not that complicated of a woman."

"I am so! I'm a total mystery!"

Jean began laughing at this comment, practically having to wipe tears from his eyes in the process, "You're kidding, right?! That's too funny! You?! A mystery?! That's like saying Hagi isn't a clean freak or that Matilda hates coffee!" he said loudly, continuing to laugh as he held his stomach and slapped one hand on his knee over and over again.

Cordelia felt her eye twitch several times before she slammed the man's face into the desk and papers, "Shut up already! How dare you talk to your guild master like that! You shouldn't even be in my office still! Just sign your damn name already and get out!"

Jean continued to laugh even with his face smashed against the desk while Cordelia continued to shout profanities at him. Due to their current actions, the two missed the door to the office opening and shutting until Bones lifted his head and barked sharply at the pair. They froze with Cordelia's hand still forcefully pushed against Jean's cheek as she looked over to see who had entered her office.

Cordelia recognized the seventeen year old boy as Sam Magus. Though, Sam came off as more androgynous looking rather than manly. He stood at 5'9" with a slim build and pale skin. His black hair was short but still long enough to reach the nape of his neck with a few bangs falling into almond shaped, brown eyes. His navy blue guild mark was located on the back of his right wrist. He was dressed a bit more seriously than most of the guild. He wore a white dress shirt with a dark blue tie along with a pair of black slacks and brown suspenders. He also had on a pair of brown shoes and a gold watch on his left wrist. Finally, he carried a small and simple pistol on his right hip.

"Afternoon Sam," Cordelia smiled at him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important," he replied quietly, his voice having a light tone to it which made it seem a bit androgynous much like his appearance.

"Ah, no," she answered, "We were just about finished up here if someone would sign the paper already," she grumbled as she finally released Jean from the table top.

Jean fixed himself, brushing his hair and clothes back in their proper places before turning to look over at the new visitor. Though, he quickly froze upon seeing Sam standing in the office. His body visibly twitched at the sight of the boy, causing Cordelia to stare over at him curiously. He had never been quite sure how to act around Sam. He always had an urge to flirt with the boy, but he had never understood why. He liked to believe himself a ladies man, even if he failed at it more often than not, but never in his years of flirting had he ever been attracted to men; so it was a rather frustrating experience whenever Sam made an appearance around him.

"Oi! Jean!" Cordelia shouted in hopes that it would bring him out of whatever daze he was in, "Sign the damn paper and leave already!"

Something seemed to snap in Jean the moment Sam took a small step forward. He yanked a pen out of the cup on the desk, knocking the cup over in the process and spilling the contents across the desk. He quickly scribbled his name and the date on the paper Cordelia had been shoving in his face. He threw the pen down and the paper towards Cordelia before making his way towards the window behind the desk.

"What the hell are you doing?! The door is that way!" Cordelia shouted, pointing to the office door.

Jean glanced back at it briefly, seeing that Sam was standing in front of it, "Yes, well, the window is right here too, so I'll be going now. Good day!" he called out before throwing the window open and jumping out of it.

"Jean! What the hell?!" Cordelia continued shouting as she moved to look out the window. She looked down to see the blonde man hanging onto the side of the ship, slowly inching his way away from the window and up onto the top deck. She felt a sweat drop roll down her head before moving back into the office and closing the window. She sighed as she sat back down in the chair, "He's always such a handful."

"I apologize if I caused you any trouble," Sam said, his tone still quiet and serious.

"No, no," Cordelia answered with a wave of her hand, "It's not your fault that he's a bit of a weirdo," she added before straightening herself out in the chair and turning her full attention on the boy in front of her, "Have a seat, Sam, and tell me what I can do for you."

Sam took his seat and was quiet for a long moment as he figured out how to exactly word his request. He wasn't very good at socializing and to speak with someone as social as Cordelia was a bit overwhelming for him, but he also knew Cordelia to be a genuinely good person and he had come to trust her enough over the two years of being in the guild and observing her along with the rest of the guild.

"Well," he finally began, feeling a bit of relief that Cordelia was being patient with him, "I wanted to know if you had any advisors at the moment?"

Cordelia was a bit surprised by the question, having always seen Sam keep to himself and stay quiet during his time on Storm's Helm. So for him to ask about an advisor position seemed like an awfully huge step for the boy to take in the social realm.

Eventually, she smiled warmly at him again, "I do have Zinnia, but I wouldn't necessarily call her an advisor. She's a close friend and she'll support me in most of my decisions without too much argument…kinda like a first mate I suppose, but unfortunately that makes her a bit biased. If I said the guild was going to head into Angel's Cove tomorrow, she'd ask how much ammunition I would need and how she could be of use to me rather than tell me that it's a bad idea."

"That is a horrible idea," Sam commented with a straight face, "No sane person would go into Angel's Cove without very good reason."

"Exactly," Cordelia said, "But Zinnia would follow me right in there if that's what I said we were doing…mostly to make sure I have defense and that I would come back out alive," she added with a laugh, "So like I said, I can't really count her as an advisor. Are you interested in that position?"

"Yes, actually," he answered, "With my knowledge and specialized Archive Magic, I think I could be very helpful. And I won't be biased in decisions. If I feel like you're making a bad decision, I will tell you so, so long as you don't mind that. Ultimately, all decisions will be made by you, but I feel it would be beneficial to the guild to have a second opinion as well."

Cordelia was quiet as she contemplated the boy's request. Unlike the decision she had made earlier with Matilda becoming her navigator, this choice was a bit more complicated. She knew Matilda's work first hand and had seen the woman in action before, but she had yet to really see Sam in action. She knew that he was highly intelligent, but sometimes intelligence could only take someone so far. They would also have to be street smart at times and quick to make a decision in dire situations. An advisor had to be confident and headstrong if they wanted to get anywhere with the person that they advised under. They couldn't be afraid to go against her own decisions if they felt that she was wrong. And the role called for more socializing than Cordelia had seen the boy do. While it wasn't a role like the guild master where one had to keep tabs on everyone and get to know everyone, the advisor still had to speak with the guild master and the navigator often as well as anyone who might be part of a battle plan. Cordelia felt a bit unsure if that was something Sam could handle. Though, as she looked at the young man across from her, she saw determination in his eyes. He had worked up a great deal of courage to come here and ask for the position today and this impressed Cordelia. She figured that maybe a position like this was something that the boy needed to bring him out of shell; and she trusted him well enough for the time being. She wanted to build on that trust throughout the entire guild and its members. If she turned Sam away now, that trust would crumble away into dust and she couldn't have that happening right after she had gained the title of guild master.

"All right," she finally answered, seeing slight surprise pass over Sam's face, "I'll take you on as my advisor, so long as you're up for the challenge."

"Yes, of course."

"You do understand that you'll have to talk with me often as well as Matilda as she is my navigator."

"Yes, I understand."

"And you'll be able to handle that?" she pushed, seeing Sam's face fall slightly, "Please understand, it's not that I think you can't do the job. I just want to make sure it won't be something that'll push you too much if you're uncomfortable with it."

"I…I want to push myself…in being more social, I mean."

"I see," Cordelia said, "Well then, you can start with myself and Matilda. Although, you may want to keep Matilda's coffee addiction in mind. She gets wound up pretty quickly, but I believe you two can learn a lot from each other, considering both of your magic types."

"I believe I'll be okay if it's just the two of you at first."

"Good to hear," she smiled, "Now then, take a few days to gather up any and all supplies you feel you need to do your job correctly. We won't be doing anything too major for now. I have a few things in mind and we'll discuss them in the near future, but I'm still settling into my new position as well."

"Yes ma'am."

"And no need to be so formal, Sam," she said as she stood from her seat and held out a hand towards him, "From today on, we're going to be good friends, so I'd rather you just call me Cordelia."

"All right…Cordelia," he answered, shaking her hand in return as he stood as well.

Her smile brightened at the use of her name before she began to guide the both of them out of her office, "I have to go check on something, so we'll call it a day for now. I'll let you know when the real work begins though, okay?"

Sam simply nodded his head as they made their way out of the office and up to the surface of the guild.

**. : + : .**

"Somehow this sake tastes better than usual," a young man said with a lazy smile as he sat his cup back down on the table.

"Could be because we're under new management," a slightly older man answered after setting down his own drink, being that of a large cold beer.

The pair sat just a few feet away from one of the bars on the top deck of the middle vessel and under one of the large white tarps to block out the sun. The second man also had a large meal in front of him while the first man simply stuck with bottle of sake.

The first was a man of twenty-four that went by the name of Securus. He never used his last name very often and only a few had heard the name Randal mumbled when it was necessary. He stood at six feet even with an athletic and toned build and tanned skin. His right eye was a deep gold, matching gold guild mark on his upper right arm. His left eye, though, was hidden by a black eye patch. His dark brown hair was messily swept backwards and he had five o'clock shadow. He wore baggy brown pants that were tucked into metal boots that reached just below his knees, having a slight gold tint to the metal. His torso was covered with a long, brown high collared jacket that stopped at his mid-calf. It was held together across his stomach by a large buckle with the Pergrande symbol of a phoenix. In his right ear had three small silver hoop earrings that were pierced through the upper part of his ear. Across his right shoulder down to his left hip was a line of .45 caliber bullets. The long rifle he used sat leaned against the table near him, having a wooden stock, no scope and the barrel was a deep obsidian color. Finally, hidden away within his jacket was a silver lighter and a pack of cigarettes.

The other man was slightly older at twenty-eight and was named John Morang. He stood a bit taller at 6'2" with a muscular build and a dark tan from working outside often. He had short black hair that was already starting to gray slightly and steel gray eyes. His body was covered with battle scars, but the most prominent one was the mark across his left eye. The man had been lucky that the scarring hadn't ruined his vision. His guild mark was also located on his upper right arm and was in black. He was dressed a bit simpler than Securus, wearing a light, white long sleeved shirt with an open neckline, a pair of jeans and tall leather boots. He kept his weapons on his person, having a cutlass on his left hip and a pistol on his right.

"True," Securus answered, leaning back into his chair a bit more while pulling a chair near him. Once the chair was close enough, he propped his feet up on it so he could relax properly, "The atmosphere in guild has lightened up tremendously already."

"I'm still surprised that you didn't try to take out Gordon much earlier," John said, "He did cast you aside after he took over Duke's place."

"As much of an asshole that man is," Securus replied as poured more sake into his cup, "That would have been a lot of work."

"And you're supposed to be S-Class," John mumbled, "I'm certain that Squall does more work around here than you."

Securus simply shrugged at the comment, having gotten used to people's frustration of his laziness over the years, "We can't all be workaholics like you, now can we, John?" he asked with a grin, only earning a grunt in reply from the man, "Besides, I'm more interested in what Cordelia has in store for us now. I heard her old man was one of the best guild masters in his time, so it'll be interesting to see how well she lives up to that."

"Well, she should be better than Gordon at any rate," John answered, "I've only been here a year, so it's only been Gordon that has run the guild."

"Too bad you weren't here while Duke was running things. Poor guy has bad luck though, considering he tripped during his fight with Gordon. I'm hoping he makes an appearance in the near future. He should be pleasantly surprised to see Cordelia as the guild master after taking that prolonged mission he's been on."

"Is this what you two do all day? Sit around drinking and gossiping about guild masters?"

The two men looked up to see Cordelia smiling at them.

"Speak of the devil and they will appear!" Securus announced loudly, "Come to have a drink with us?"

"I really would love to, but I have check on something beneath deck first," she answered, "Just make sure to save some sake for me, yeah?"

"Sure thing."

"Also, we need to discuss some things soon, Securus," she said, a serious face taking over her smile, "You haven't been a mission for a bit…at least not the specific type of mission I'm talking about. We should look into that soon."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he answered, rubbing absently at his eye patch.

John stared curiously between the two, but didn't question what they were talking about. He didn't really have time to think about it any longer as Cordelia's face lit up in a smile again and turned towards him.

"Thanks for continuing to work hard on the ships, John," she said, "It doesn't go unnoticed."

"You're quite welcome," he nodded at her, "I can also fix up that hole from this morning's fight. Jean did a pretty good number on the deck by burning a hole through it."

"What?!" she suddenly shouted, "It still hasn't been fixed?!"

"Did you ask someone to do it already?" John asked.

"I told Gordon to fix it! Since he can patch up a metal deck easier than anyone else in this guild! That good for nothing lazy bum!"

"Well, that was your first mistake," a deep voice began, a figure appearing in front of the table, "You should have been smarter in your decision, Miss Murdock."

Cordelia's eye twitched in annoyance as she turned to look at the man that spoke to her, "No one asked for your opinion, Kasra!"

The man's full name was Kasra Marechal and he was twenty-nine years old. He stood at 6'4" and his build was lean, muscular and well-toned while his skin was brown. His dark brown hair was a short and stylish undercut with the top half being heavily textured and thick, just barely reaching the nape of his neck. Though, most of his hair was covered by a dark orange turban, keeping it out of his black and heavy-lidded eyes. His dark blue guild mark was located on the underside of his left wrist. He also had a well trimmed and tidied moustache and chin patch combination along with a decent amount of hair on his chest, arms and legs. He wore a cardinal red blazer with black buttons that was left undone. Underneath the blazer he wore pastel blue t-shirt with a deeply cut collar that showed off quite a bit of his chest. He had on wine red pants and was currently barefoot at the moment. If it was necessary to wear shoes, he would normally have on tan oxfords. On the left side of his neck was a tattoo of Uranus and both ears were pierced with black ear-pipes the size of large buttons.

"I'm just being honest," he replied, "It's not like either of these two lovely men will give you honest feedback," he added, eyeing John's muscles a bit more than Securus's athletic form.

Securus rolled his eyes at the comment and downed his cup of sake, having been used to Kasra's attempts of flirtation. John, on the other hand, quirked an eyebrow at Kasra and scooted his chair backwards a bit to put some more distance between them. He had a hard enough time opening up to women, so there was no way he would give into the flirtations of a man.

"I wasn't looking for feedback, thank you very much," Cordelia huffed at him.

"A good guild master would take feedback though. You do wish to improve, do you not?"

"GAH! You're just as bad as Ingrid! You just don't shoot bullets at me when you see me!"

"I like to think of my words as bullets," Kasra smirked, "They seem to be getting to you quite well."

"Just…just…just go drink some of that fancy tea and read your books!" Cordelia practically snorted out in anger while she pointed to the opening that led to the lower parts of the middle ship. It was then that she realized that she would need to head into that general direction soon and she quickly stopped the man from heading that way, "Wait! Actually you should go hit up Eli and Seth. They just got back from their mission and I just know how much they would love to see you, especially Eli. You make sure to give him a bit of extra attention. Poor thing needs it."

"Both men are quite aesthetically pleasing and it has been some time since I've seen them. Thank you for the information."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off, glad that her plan had worked, "They're probably over in the men's dorms."

Kasra nodded to her before making his way towards the ship that held the men's dorms. Cordelia sighed as she turned back to Securus and John. John wore a look of thanks aimed towards her while Securus wore a lazy grin.

"Poor guy needs attention, huh?" Securus asked with a chuckle, "Just sounds like you're pissed off at the poor guy."

"Shut up," she grumbled, "He deserves it anyways. Now then, I have other matters to attend to, but you save that drink for me!"

"Of course," he answered before she walked off down in the lower realms of the ship.

**. : + : .**

Cordelia made her way through the halls of the ship, coming to large opening every few halls. Each large opening held something different from small restaurants and bars to a large library to a game room and so on and so forth. Since this vessel was the largest out of their fleet it was easy to use it for a number of things. It even held the 'house' that Cordelia and Ace grew up in on one of the lower floors. Her mother had insisted on having a home for her family even on a sailing guild, so her father had managed to turn part of one of the lower floors into a large home for their family. It also held many workshops within its layers, one of which she was making her way towards now. She turned one last corner and walked through an open door that led into a weapons workshop.

She saw two women in this shop, one being the person she had come to see and had owned the shop. The owner's name was Vi Garrot. She was a woman of twenty-eight with a tall height of 6'3". At first glance, she appeared to be scrawny looking, but really it was all just wiry muscle on her. Her hips and shoulders were narrowly built and at times she had a very gaunt, skeletal look, but Cordelia knew better than to underestimate her. She had seen Vi knock out men that were big and buff when they had agitated her enough. Her skin was dark brown and splattered with freckles, making her yellow guild mark on her left shoulder pop when it could be seen. Her wiry dark green hair was tied back in a handful of shoulder length dreadlocks, keeping them out of her narrowed, yellow eyes. She wore a white, long sleeved t-shirt that was soot stained and slightly frayed around the edges. She had on a pair of dark brown overalls, steel-toed boots and a yellow, plaid bandana tied around her head. She also had a couple of tool belts slung around her hips, sporting an odd assortment of items, materials and protective gear.

Vi was hovering over a rather large weapon while the other woman in the room watched her work curiously, having always liked the challenge of trying to get the weapons crafter to open up a bit outside of work related talk.

This woman was named Yvonne MacTrevors, but normally went by Mac by most of the guild. She was a little younger than Vi at twenty-five and she was rather on the short side at five feet even, almost making her look like a dwarf standing next to Vi. Her build was a bit more filled out than Vi's, but she was still rather slight and small. She had a nice light tan with gray eyes and auburn hair that was wavy and reached her mid-back. Though, she kept her hair up in a ponytail aside from the small hair braid that hung on the left side of her face and her bangs hung over her right eye. Her light lavender guild mark was located just below her throat and she had two small silver loop piercings in each ear. She wore a sage green shirt with a small v-neck and showed off a bit of her midriff along with dark trousers that were tucked into high black boots. Around her right thigh was a sage green bandana and she had sage green wrist guards. Over top of her shirt she wore a dark overcoat with long sleeves that were rolled up to just below her elbows and it had hard leather shoulder pads. The oak staff she normally carried with her was leaned up against one of the walls of the shop.

Cordelia had also hung out with Mac a few times since the woman tended to hang out with Zinnia from time to time. The first time she had met the woman, she had thought of her as rather gloomy and depressing. She was surprised that Zinnia had befriended someone who seemed so down all the time, but leave it up to her best friend to bring out the best in someone. They had quickly found out what a prankster Mac was and that she could be a rather open and honest woman who could also be loyal to a fault, so it was quite easy for Cordelia to get along with her now. Though, she couldn't say the same for Vi. The taller woman was beginning to show a look of annoyance from Mac continuously asking her questions and interrupting her finishing touches on the weapon. Cordelia took that as her cue to make her presence known.

"Yo! Mac! Vi!" she began, causing both women to glance over at her. Vi simply nodded at her before turning back to the weapon while Mac made her way over towards her, "I'm surprised to see you in here," she said, looking at the auburn haired woman.

"Yes, well, I just happened to be walking by when I saw what Vi was working on," she said while nodding over towards the weapon, "It seemed rather interesting from just the sheer size of it."

"It's actually why I'm here. Vi told me that it would be ready today, but I hope you haven't been causing her too much trouble. I know how you like to play pranks.'

"Don't go spreading it around," Mac mumbled, "It'll start to give me away. But that weapon is for you?"

"Yep, sure is. Is it finished, Vi?"

The older woman did one last once over on the weapon before turning towards Cordelia, "It's ready," she answered with a stoic face, though there was pride and passion shining in her usually unexpressive eyes.

She stepped out of the way to show off a huge anti-tank rifle that was a couple yards in length at least and weighing in at one hundred and twenty pounds when it was unloaded. The 30mm, single shot cannon could use various types of shells, Vi having made two types for the cannon so far. The first was made of depleted uranium with silver for piercing armored targets and the second shell types were incendiary napalm rounds made for destroying large groups of opponents. Vi had been able to make six rounds of each shells for the cannon so far and had agreed to make more for Cordelia when she needed them.

"What do you think?" Vi asked, "I made everything to your specifications."

Cordelia stared at the large weapon, practically drooling at the sight of it. Her eyes instantly began to sparkle as she jumped all around it to get closer looks at it, "It's perfect, Vi! She's so beautiful!" she shouted happily as she ran her fingers along the barrel before picking up one of the uranium shells, "Does she have a name?!"

"I chose The Defender for her," Vi replied, a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips.

"It's absolutely perfect!" Cordelia answered, her eyes still sparkling over the new weapon, "Thank you so much for doing another amazing job! I don't know what I'd do without you and your Crafting Magic anymore!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Mac finally spoke up, "You're actually going to use this thing in battle? Who do you think we'll be going up against? The entire army of Fiore's Rune Knights?"

Cordelia stopped fawning over the weapon momentarily to look over at Mac, "You never know when something like this is needed! I did just use my Tsar Cannon yesterday on Gordon! Ohhhhhh! I could test out this little baby on that metal head! Or at least threaten him to fix the top deck with it!" she said, trying to think of a way to at least shoot off one of the shells to test it out, "Besides, I'd rather have the extra firepower than not at all. Speaking of more firepower…" she drifted off, looking back towards Vi, "You think you're up for making another weapon?"

"Of course," she answered evenly, "I'd rather have too much work than none at all," she added, copying off of Cordelia's previous comment.

"Great to hear! I'll come up with a new weapon soon and then we can work out all the details like we did with this beauty," Cordelia said as she patted the cannon, "Thank you very much for the excellent work, Vi!" she said before recalling the weapon into her re-quip space along with the matching shells.

Vi simply nodded at her before turning to start work on her next order.

"Sometimes I forget how weird things are on this ship," Mac said to herself as she watched Cordelia practically skip out of the shop, "And I've even been here for seven years and things still manage to catch me off guard," she added before grabbing her staff and exiting the shop to go hunt down something to do for the evening.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Sam Magus - reven228**

**Securus - PlaguedAmbition**

**John Morang - mrady**

**Kasra Marechal - Cat the Alien**

**Vi Garrot - Vulkodlak**

**Yvonne 'Mac' MacTrevors - silverhawk88**

So I know there wasn't really any action in this chapter, especially compared to the last chapter, but I still had fun with it. Plus, not all of the introduction chapters will be action based since many of the characters use their time on the guild to relax before going on missions.

Also, I do have a list started on my profile of upcoming arcs for Storm's Helm if you'd like to check that out. I meant to mention that last chapter.

The inspiration for Cordelia's new weapon actually came from the weapon that Seras Victoria uses in the Hellsing series called the Harkonnen. I was originally going to give her a normal rocket launcher, but then I suddenly remembered what Seras's weapon looked like and so I pulled it up and was like, hell yeah! That's definitely being added to her collection! So you can check out the Harkonnen if you'd like a reference of what it looks like. And it's the Harkonnen I not II. Although, II is super badass too!

Ah let's see…I think that's about it for right now other than the reviews!

So thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Yeah, Matilda was really fun for me to write, so I'm glad you liked her too. Yep, Jean definitely got his pride back with that win! And yeah, Haruna can definitely pack away the food, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you liked both Seth and Eli. I quite enjoyed writing them! And I'm glad you liked Matilda too. And soon we'll get to see Mia's interesting side with the drinking as I have a plan for a chapter here soon for that to happen, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Yep, Jean got that S-Class spot! And I'm glad that Haruna turned out so well for you! She was totally fun to write along with Sho! And lol, Eli probably won't figure it out that quickly. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **Glad to hear you're enjoying the fic and its fights! And I hope Securus turned out well for you in this chapter. I really enjoyed writing his character. And I hope you enjoyed the chapter as a whole!

**DarkHyena - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And the free for all battle too! And yeah, Eli will be quite the ladies man, lol. And we'll eventually get to see all the mages in action, especially in the next arc, so we'll get to see just how tough Seth it. And lol, I hope this was a quick enough update for you. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Your compliments are as lovely as ever! But I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! It was a lot of fun to write! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

**GhostOfOnyx - **Happy to hear that you enjoyed Matilda's character! And I'm glad you enjoyed that battle royal as well as Jean taking that S-Class spot. He definitely redeemed himself. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yep, Matilda is a bit impressive when it comes to that coffee and naps, lol. Haha, what can I say? Eli is definitely a ladies man. And yeah, that battle royal was bound to tear up something on the ship. Though the middle vessel it was on is actually a metal ship rather than a wooden one, but still, that doesn't change the fact that a hole was melted through it, lol. And yep, Jean got to redeem himself by getting the S-Class spot. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Glad you enjoyed Matilda's introduction! I had a lot of fun with that one. And yeah, Gordon had an impression on mostly everyone, even though it was more of a bad impression, so they're bound to talk about him. Yeah, we finally got to meet those boys! Glad you liked them! And I'm glad you enjoyed the battle for the S-Class spot! And I'm happy to hear that I was able to get Ajax right for you! And I thought it would be funny to pit him against Haruna, considering that brotherly side he has to him, lol. And thanks for the virtual cookies and coffee, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **LOL! Definitely a day of infamy for Jean! But I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter so much! And I try to be quick with the updates since I know how it feels to be waiting for one, lol, so I'll continue to try to keep the quick updates coming for you all. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Glad to hear you liked Matilda and her interactions with Cordelia! And yeah, battling it out for spots is simple, but like you said, it suits them and it's a lot of fun for me! And yes! The infamous Eli makes his appearance! He's bound to shake things up in the romance department, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 - **I thought it would be interesting to see a younger guild master, so I'm glad you're liking that aspect too. And I'm glad you enjoyed Matilda's character too. And I'm so glad to hear that Seth turned out well for you! I really did have a lot of fun with his character! And yeah, you are correct with the nameless mages fort he guild. There's a bunch of them all across the guild and they'll really have no importance other than filling in spaces, lol. But it made sense to add them in there for the size of the guild and for how long it's been around. And I'm glad you enjoyed Haruna and Sho. The pairing was fun for me to write. And I'm glad you liked that fight between Jean and Rin. I was really into it when I was writing it up, so I'm glad to hear it turned out so well. We'll get to see more in the future too between them. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **I try to make my updates fairly frequent since I know how it feel shaving to wait for a chapter, so hopefully they should continue to come out pretty quick if I can help it. But I'm glad you enjoyed Matilda's character. It seems that most everyone enjoyed her too. And I wish I could drink more coffee like her too, but that's probably not the best idea in real life, lol. And I'm glad you enjoyed those battle scenes. They were a lot of fun to write. But yeah, Jean finally got to restore his pride with that battle royal. And I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the scene with Seth and Eli and Cordelia. Poor Eli will probably mess up in the future again…and again…and again, lol. Hopefully he won't take too long in figuring things out. But I'm glad that you enjoyed that last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter as well as the fight scenes that were in it! Yeah, that Jean and Rin fight was a lot of fun to write and I'm glad to see that it turned out so well! I'm glad someone picked up on the Supernatural reference with Eli! That's one of my favorite shows ever! So yes, Eli's inspiration came from both Dean and Sam, leaning more towards Dean of course (even though Sammy is my favorite!). But that show and all its feels! UGH! Anyways…lol, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed the battle royal for the S-Class spot! And I'm also glad you enjoyed Matilda's character. I'm sure more entertainment will come from her in future chapters! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Matilda is definitely an interesting character and she should make things quite entertaining for future chapters as well. And yep, Jean got to redeem himself by getting that S-Class spot! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

That's all I got for this chapter!

I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	6. An Archangel, a Doctor and Old Friends

**A/N: **Ta-Daa! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6: An Archangel, a Doctor and Old Friends**

**April 5, X792 - Late Morning**

"It's every damn week with you!" a young man shouted, trying his best to get away from another man up on the deck of the middle vessel, "And you lose every week! Stop making yourself look like a fool and leave me alone!"

Devin McLain always tried his hardest to keep his temper under control, but the younger man following him always had a way of setting it off. The twenty year old mage continued to swerve around tables and people to get away from the man before he fully challenged him. He stood at six feet even with a muscular yet slender build and flawless, white skin. His black hair was short and messy with a few pieces falling into dark gray eyes. He wore black pants and shoes along with a red buttoned up shirt that had the sleeves ripped off, showing off the white guild mark on his right shoulder. He also had a pair of head phones slung around his neck.

"Is the Archangel actually turning down a challenge for his S-Class spot?" the man following asked in a teasing tone, "I think that means the spot becomes mine."

This man's name was Kato and he was only a year younger than Devin at nineteen. He stood at 5'11" with a bit of a leaner build than Devin. He had tan skin along with dark crimson hair that reached his shoulders, pieces falling into matching crimson eyes. His silver guild mark was over his heart, though it was covered up by a sleeveless, white shirt. He also wore a pair of black pants, black boots and a heavy, black trench coat. Strapped to his legs were two matching guns and in a black holster on his back was a large sword.

"I'm surprised your tiny brain can figure something like that out," Devin snapped back at him when he had finally stopped and turned to face the redhead, "I'm pretty sure even Ace can outsmart you."

"That doesn't answer the question though," Kato continued, letting the comments go, "Are you turning down a challenge?"

"Like hell I am," Devin answered, "There's no way I'd let someone like you be S-Class. You don't even use magic properly."

Kato faltered slightly at that comment. It was true that he only used magically enhanced items to fight with. He had the potential to learn magic, but Kato had never really figured out what he could do with that potential. So over the years, he had focused on boosting up his sword, guns and even his trench coat in place of his lack of magic usage.

"Whatever! I'll still totally win!"

"You never win," Devin sighed, "It's getting rather tiresome kicking your ass."

"Shut up and fight me!" he shouted, pulling out his sword right in the middle of the crowd they stood in. The people around them quickly jumped at the sight of the fight and began to move away from the pair.

"So be it," Devin said lowly as he took a deep breath to steel himself before he used his Take Over Magic, "Angel Soul: Angela!" he shouted, taking over the Angel of War's soul in an instant. His clothes changed into white pants with only a loose, red vest with white trim covering his torso. A red metal mask covered his eyes and he now carried a sword in his right hand. And on his back were now a pair of large, white wings.

Kato swung his sword down hard at the take over mage, but Devin easily blocked the hit with his own sword. The metallic clank of the swords filled the air while the two men pushed back and forth. Kato's sword had been reinforced with Hardening Magic several times over the years, making it hard for Devin to try and break it in half with his own magical sword. Getting tired with the pushing back and forth, Devin ignited his sword in fire. This caused Kato to jump back into order to dodge the roar of flames that exploded outwards.

"If swinging your sword around like a moron is all you can do, you're gonna lose again and quickly," Devin said, "Enhancing your sword with magic means jack shit when you don't know how to wield it properly. Maybe you should hit up Ace for some lessons."

"We're just getting started!" Kato shouted in reply before attempting to charge Devin again. He began slashing quickly, forcing Devin to speed up his blocking.

"Sacred Fire!" Devin shouted, wanting to finish the fight as quickly as possible. He shot out a blast of his angelic fire from his left hand when Kato wasn't paying attention. While Kato was decent with a sword, he wasn't very good at keeping an eye on his surroundings, so it was fairly easy to make a hit on him. The fire made direct hit with the man's stomach causing him to fly backwards. Before Kato could get back up, Devin had appeared beside him, holding the point of his still burning sword at the redhead's neck, "Looks like you lose again," Devin said before dropping his take over spell, "You might want to get that burn on your stomach checked out," he added before turning around and placing his headphones on his ears, "And make sure to leave me alone for the rest of the day."

Just as Devin was about to play his music, a large bullet of water hit him in the back of the head and knocked off his headphones. They landed on the deck with a hard thump and quickly shorted out from the water sinking into them. Devin stared at the headphones for a moment before whipping his head around to glare at Kato. The younger man was holding out one of his guns towards Devin with a smirk.

"I think you needed to cool down," Kato said, spinning a small disc on the side of the gun until it flipped over to a fire symbol, "Let me dry you off now," he continued, pulling the trigger and shooting off a bullet of fire towards the take over mage.

Devin was able to dodge the bullet as he turned to face Kato, "You really are fucking stupid," he said lowly, the tone of his voice igniting worry and caution in the people watching the fight. One person in particular ran off from the scene to go hunt down Cordelia, knowing what was about to happen. In the meantime, Devin continued speaking, "The fight is finished, so you better take this moment to piss off! Make another cheap shot like that and you're gonna regret it!"

Kato spun the knob on the gun again to a lightning symbol and then aimed it at the headphones lying on the ground rather than the take over mage. He quickly shot off a bullet and in an instant, the headphones were broken and fried beyond repair, "Maybe now you'll listen to me," the redhead grinned, thinking nothing of his actions.

Devin didn't reply with anything other than the activation of another soul, "Angel Soul: Liliana!" he shouted, causing his appearance to change again. He now wore a dark purple shirt with the right sleeve ripped off along with a pair of dark purple pants and a purple metal mask across his eyes. The white wings were once again on his back and he now wielded a dark katana, "If the Angel of War wasn't enough for you," Devin began, moving in a flash to reappear in front of Kato, "Then let's try the Angel of Night."

**. : + : .**

Drayden Kresczech quickly made his way towards the front of the fleet, guessing that was where Cordelia would be. Normally, he wouldn't bother getting in the way of a fight, but he knew how Devin could be when he lost control of his anger and Kato had done a fine job making sure he would. Devin wasn't S-Class for nothing. The twenty year old continued on his trek, not bothering to wave back to anyone who greeted him along the way. He only stood at 5'7", but his lean build was muscular. He had fairly light skin, mostly due to the clothes he wore most of the time. He had choppy, medium length azure hair along with a blue right eye and a gold left eye and a silver guild mark that was on his left pectoral, although the mark was covered up most of the time. He wore a heavyset, white hooded trench coat that he currently had zipped up. He paired this with baggy white pants that were tied off at the waist with a blue sash and tucked into black combat boots. Finally, he wore a thick, black cowl which he had situated to cover the lower half of his face most of the time.

He eventually made his way onto the front ship, glad to see that he was just in time to catch Cordelia coming up from the lower decks with Sam and Matilda, "Cordelia," he said, the urgency in his voice catching the guild master's attention quickly.

Cordelia looked over at the young man, feeling a bit surprised by the tone of his voice. Drayden tended to be one of the more laidback mages on board the guild along with a more stoic nature, so the aura around him worried her a bit, "What's wrong?"

"It's Devin and Kato."

"Don't tell me Kato challenged him again for the S-Class spot?" she asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, but Kato lost and then made a cheap shot at Devin," he explained quickly, "Now he's gone and pissed him off."

"Dammit," Cordelia hissed, "What soul is he using?"

"When I left he was using Liliana and he had already used Angela before that."

"Shit," she continued cursing, knowing that the souls would only get worse if the fight wasn't stopped. She turned to look back at Sam and Matilda, "I've gotta go handle this. You two got things under control up here?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine! I'll take good care of Sam and give him some coffee and maybe that might lighten him up some and get him to talk more and…" Matilda continued to ramble off quickly, causing Sam to pale slightly when Cordelia left him there with the energetic woman.

Cordelia had ran the entire way up to the middle vessel with Drayden quickly following her. By the time the pair came to the top deck of the large ship, the fight was fully under way. Although, it was clearly evident that Devin had the upper hand in the battle. He continued to relentlessly attack Kato, using Darkness Magic to enhance his attacks; and the longer he stayed in Liliana's form, the more he fell into that darkness and let it over take him. The crowd had completely backed away from the fight, trying to make sure they wouldn't get caught up in it. And Kato was putting everything he had into just being able to dodge the S-Class mage, already having a few cuts on him from the katana.

"We can't let him keep going like this. I can't have Serena or one of his high ranked souls coming out," Cordelia said, calling out a shotgun and pointing it up into the air. She shot it off, hoping the loud sound would be enough to have the fight coming to a stop. Though, it only managed to grab Kato's attention, causing the man to trip up and fall to the ground. Cordelia moved quickly once she saw that Devin was bringing his sword down onto him. She came to stand in between the two, using the shotgun barrel to block the blade, "Enough!" she shouted, "This fight is finished!"

"Like hell it is!" Kato yelled, aiming his gun at Devin once again.

Somehow, Cordelia managed to hold the shotgun with one hand to keep Devin held off and call out one of her Twin Pistols to point at Kato, "Don't test me!" she yelled, "Now stand down!"

Kato was about to pull the trigger on his gun, but a large bullet of blue-ish white lightning hit him in the back. The lightning traveling all across his body, causing him to drop his gun and have him dropping to the ground and unable to move momentarily. Cordelia then realized that Drayden had used his Asteris Magic to hit the redhead with. She barely had enough time to nod a thank you at Drayden before Devin jumped back a bit and slashed his sword in a large arc.

"Fading Light!" he shouted, sending a wave of darkness at Cordelia.

She didn't have enough time to dodge it and it fully hit her, enveloping her in the magic. She instantly felt the affects of it, the darkness pulling out her strength and beginning to leave her weak. She quickly leafed through the spells her father had taught her on the side that would come in handy when her Re-Quip Magic couldn't be used. She came to a simple, but useful spell and shouted, "Break!" The dark purple magic surrounding her quickly expand outwards and broke into pieces. She didn't move for a moment, trying to regain her composure after feeling the affects of the darkness, but she suddenly had to dodge to the left when she managed to feel the dark blade come near her. She didn't fully miss it though, feeling the blade swipe across her right cheek. Blood instantly ran down her face, proving just how close Devin managed to get. Without thinking, she lifted up her pistol and shot off a couple bullets at him, forcing him to use his wings to float him back away from her.

"That's enough Devin!" she shouted, not wanting to actually take aim and shoot him. He was a member of the guild and she was now the master of the guild. It wouldn't do well for her to injure someone on her third day of being a new master. That, and she knew that Devin wasn't acting fully on his own anymore. She was lucky that it was only Liliana that he was using, but she was certain that he'd change into a new soul soon if she didn't snap him out of it. And it seemed that was going to happen soon rather than later as she watched his appearance begin to shift. His clothes shifted back and forth from purple to blue and she knew right then that Serena was trying to take over, "Hell no! Not on my guild!" she yelled, calling back her guns for now and running straight at the take over mage.

Since he was in the middle of trying to change souls, Devin wasn't quick enough to dodge her. Cordelia quickly tackled him to the ground, stopping the change and keeping him in the Liliana form. She managed to knock the sword from his hands as well, but that didn't stop him from trying to overpower her physically. He was still at peak form while part of her strength had been drained by the darkness magic. Though, she was tougher than she appeared, managing to keep a tight hold on him as they wrestled across the ground. Punches and kicks were thrown wildly as he tried to break free and she tried to keep hold of him. Once he grew tired enough of dealing with her on the ground, Devin took the opportunity to fly up into the air when they had rolled again so he was on top. He stretched his wings out completely before swinging them down hard to take off into the air, bringing Cordelia along with him.

"Dammit," she cursed as she called out a flare gun. She shot it off into the air before Devin could knock it out of her hands, the take over mage still having enough sense about him to know what that gun meant and what it would bring. Cordelia then turned her full attention back to the situation at hand, feeling the man holding her by the back of her coat. She easily slinked out of it and swung from the loose cloth in order to land a hard kick on his jaw. She heard his teeth clack together and he released her coat from his grasp. She watched as it floated down to the deck, someone managing to catch it. She then grasped onto one of his hands before she fell to the ground. He didn't try to catch it back, but she managed to stay holding on. He tried to kick her free, but she continued to hold on tightly. She couldn't stop fighting him or else he might attack other guild members by accident, so she had to bear with it until her plan came together. Though, she wasn't just about to hang there and let him hit her over and over again without retaliating. She pulled on the hand she was grasping in order to pull herself up higher on him until she had managed to grasp both of his shoulder and look him in the eyes.

"You better wake the hell up!" she shouted before she slammed a fist right across his face, knocking the metal mask off in the process. Blood ran from his mouth, and for a moment she felt guilty for it until she remembered why she was fighting him in the first place.

Feeling the need to finish her off, mostly fueled by the anger of Liliana rather than his own, Devin gripped onto her tightly and flew straight down towards the deck with full intentions of slamming Cordelia into it. Though, just before he was about to slam her body against the metal deck, a clawed fist slammed upwards into his chest, ripping him up and away from Cordelia. She still slammed into the deck from the force of the fall, but at least it hadn't been as hard as it would have been if Devin had fully driven her into it. After ricocheting off of the deck once, her body finally stilled. She stayed that way for a moment until she regained focus and looked up at the sky.

If she wasn't the guild master or if Devin was an enemy, she would have used one of her cannons long ago to take him out with, but things were different now. She couldn't go around mercilessly beating people up just to get them to do what she wanted, including Ingrid, but she wrote the infuriating woman off as an intense rivalry. What was going on with Devin right now was something else entirely and so she had to approach it differently…as a guild master would.

It was then that Cordelia found the strength to push herself up into a sitting position and looked over to see that her flare gun from earlier had worked. She smiled briefly to see that Seth had been the one to punch Devin away from her, the man using his Chimera Tattoo Magic to enhance his strength and speed. Currently, the tattoo of the tiger's claw on his abdomen was glowing while his arms were tinted orange with a scatter of black stripes across them and his nails had sharpened into claws. He was easily holding onto Devin, forcing his hands behind his back a bit painfully while he continued to struggle against the hold.

Cordelia stood up and began walking over towards them, calling out one of the pistols again. Once she was right in front of Devin, she firmly pressed the barrel of the gun to his forehead and gave him a hard stare, "Wake up!" she barked at him.

Even though it was clear that she wouldn't actually pull the trigger, the threat of the gun and the tone of her voice was enough to finally bring Devin back to the surface and have him release his magic. The forgotten katana disappeared with his purple clothing, leaving him in his usual clothing, albeit looking a bit torn up now. He had bruises and marks across his body just like Cordelia did, both also have blood dripping from their faces still.

"You can let go," he said lowly back to Seth. The big man looked over towards Cordelia to make sure it was all right for him to do so. She sighed in relief and nodded her head at him as she recalled her gun. Seth released him and dropped his own magic as well. Devin rolled his shoulders a few times before looking over at Cordelia with shame and guilt in his eyes, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It wasn't really your fault," she answered, honestly feeling no anger towards him, "I'm just sorry I had to knock you around a bit."

"Same to you," he replied, eyeing the cut across her cheek.

"Just make sure you go check yourself out with Jack at some point today," she said, "And stop by my office soon too. I think we need to have a discussion about your souls."

Devin simply nodded at him and quickly walked away from the scene.

Cordelia was about to thank Seth for his help when she heard a groan that ignited her anger again. She turned on her heels to see that Kato was moving to stand up, the affects of the lightning having worn off. She stomped right up to him and yanked him up by the front of his shirt, "Don't you ever pull shit like that again!" she shouted.

"Why am I the one being yelled at?!"

"Because you're the one who pulled that cheap shot on him after losing the challenge! How else did you expect him to react?!"

"I was just trying to have some fun with him!"

"That wasn't fun and don't ever to it again!"

"What's your problem suddenly?"

"You want to know what my problem is?!" she yelled, pushing him away from her, "My problem is that I have a guild to run now and your idiocy is causing me to stop my work! Gordon may not have cared what the hell you did on your own time, but I'm running things now! And I won't be having idiots like you causing problems like this on a daily basis!"

"You just fought Ingrid yourself the other day! How is this any different?!"

"Because people could have seriously gotten hurt! If one of his higher ranked souls would have taken over, all hell would have broken loose on this ship and more people would have gotten hurt other than myself and Devin! Think before you act!" she shouted louder and angrier than anyone had expected. A heavy silence filled the deck, everyone too afraid to say or do anything. Cordelia felt herself breathing hard in her anger and she attempted to try and calm herself down, "I am the guild master now," she began without yelling, but her tone was still cold and harsh, "I will not put any of my members lives at risk because you don't know when to stop acting like a fool. Get it through your head already that you are not going to beat Devin the way you are now. Learn how to grow up and start looking out for your fellow guild members rather than just yourself. Do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am," he answered quietly.

"Good. So for the time being, you are banned from challenging Devin or any other S-Class mage until I see fit."

"But-"

"Until I see fit!" she boomed, leaving no room for argument.

"Fine, whatever!" he huffed before storming off.

Silence filled the deck again while she watched him walk off. She continued to force herself to stand tall in front of the rest guild, not wanting to show the mess she really felt like in front of them. Once Kato had disappeared, she began walking off the ship without another word. Zinnia went to move towards her to check to see if she was okay, but she was held back by Eli, who had ran onto the deck with Seth after they had seen the flare. He knew that she was holding her composure together out of sheer willpower, wanting to appear strong in front of her guild; but he also knew that fighting against Devin wasn't an easy feat, that being proven by the simple fact that she had even used the flare gun to signal for him or Seth in the first place. He watched as she held her head high as she passed them, not even glancing over at them in order to keep her focus. It was odd for him to see her this way since she was always so carefree and childlike in the past. It was like Cordelia wasn't even the same person in that instant. She had reacted to the situation like an adult by not hurting Devin the best she could and taking care of Kato the way she did. He really was at a loss of words on how to react to this new Cordelia and he almost felt like she was moving up to a whole different level from him by becoming the guild master. It almost made him feel like he was being left behind. Though, he quickly shook that thought away. She wouldn't ever do that to him and he was sure that later that evening she would be back to the happy and overexcited girl he knew…even if she was still mad at him. He sighed at that thought before he moved over towards Seth to help him pick up the tables and chairs that had been knocked over in the fight.

**. : + : .**

"Oh man, that really fucking hurt," Cordelia mumbled as she made her way onto the deck of the left side ship that was mostly used for training. Though, this ship also held the infirmary quarters as well. It was conveniently placed as some people tended to get hurt while training, but it was more of a nuisance at the moment for the guild master, having to walk down the bridge to the ship and then across the deck until she reached the stairs that led to the lower decks, "Kato is so gonna owe me for this!" she shouted, "That idiot would have been killed if I hadn't stepp-ow, ow, ow, ow!" she cried as she stretched her back out too far, "He slammed me so hard onto the deck," she mumbled again, little tears at the corners of her eyes.

She continued making her way towards the stairs, but before she got very far a woman appeared in front of her with a bright smile. Cordelia knew exactly who she was since she tended to be somewhere near the infirmary most times since she was close with the doctor that ran it. Zhuue Krytek was a twenty-nine year old woman that was just as bubbly as Zinnia, maybe even more so. She stood around 5'8" with a toned build and defined muscles for her lithe form. She also had a generous bust that could almost give Mia's a run for her money. Her pale skin had the emerald guild mark on the side of her neck popping slightly. Her long, blonde hair reach down to her lower back while her bangs framed her face and happy, emerald eyes. She wore a pair of black, short shorts, a white tank top, brown combat boots and a large, red scarf around her neck. She also normally carried around a double edged spear, but Cordelia didn't see it with her at the moment. She guessed that it was probably down in one of the infirmary rooms.

"Hey Zhuue," Cordelia smiled at the woman despite the pain she still felt.

Zhuue waved in reply, still keeping the bright smile on her face. Like Squall, Zhuue could not speak. However, unlike the young girl, she wasn't born that way. She had been able to speak at one point in her life until that ability had been ripped away from her. She then noticed the cut across Cordelia's cheek along with the bruises across her skin. Zhuue frowned at the at the sight of the beaten woman before she lifted her hands up quickly as if to tell Cordelia not to move. She then pulled out a handkerchief from her back pocket and began to gently wipe away the blood from her face.

Cordelia smiled warmly at her and patted her on the head, "Still as sweet as ever."

Zhuue smiled again at the guild master before moving back a bit while taking up a fighting pose. She then punched the air a few times quickly, looking over at Cordelia with a questioning stare.

"Yeah, I got in a fight," she answered, watching the blonde's face fall, "But I did win," she added, chuckling a bit when Zhuue's bright smile returned again, "I actually came to see Jack about getting fixed up a bit. He's around, yeah?"

"Of course, I'm always around," a man answered, a figure approaching the women.

Jack Stahl was his full name, but most of the guild tended to call him Doc instead. He was a few years older than both women at thirty-three and he also stood taller than both of them at 6'5". His build was slightly muscular with pale skin and a gray guild mark on his right forearm, although it was currently covered up by his clothes. His black hair was rather short and slicked back, showing off a pair of radiant, gold eyes. He wore a pair of dark green pants with black shoes and a black t-shirt. Over his clothes he also wore a pristine, white lab coat that had a small nametag over the left breast pocket that said, 'Hi, I'm Jack'. Inside of the coat, he always tended to carry a few different medical syringes and a few suckers in various flavors. He also usually carried around a pair of twin blades, but Cordelia assumed he had left them down in the infirmary like Zhuue had done with her spear.

"I'm glad to see you, Jack," Cordelia began, "I came to-"

"I already know why you're here," he said, cutting her off in a gentle manner, "I just finished helping Devin out and he explained some things. Plus, your appearance basically proves why you're here. I don't even need to use my Analyzing Magic on you this time."

"I suppose that makes things easier then," she said with a sigh of relief, "I just hope you can do something about my back. It hurts like a bitch right now."

"Devin must have been pretty wound up then. Poor guy looked a bit guilty while I was fixing him up."

"I told him not to worry about it," she mumbled.

"I'm sure he'll be fine soon enough," Jack smiled down at her, "Now come on. You definitely need your own fixing up. You really should be more careful."

"Well I couldn't very well ignore what was going on."

"No, I suppose you couldn't," Jack answered as they all began walking towards the stairs. His smile grew slightly when he saw Zhuue grab onto one of Cordelia's arms and snuggle into her side, "She quite likes you, you know."

"Clearly," Cordelia answered with her own smile, not minding the woman's antics.

"She often goes on about yours and Ingrid's battles. She enjoys watching them."

"I'm glad someone does," Cordelia mumbled, causing Jack to chuckle lightly at her comment before they disappeared below deck.

**. : + : .**

An hour had gone by since Cordelia had been fixed up by Jack and she currently sat on top of the navigation cabin staring out at the ocean. Bones laid next to her, his back pressed up against the side of her leg while he stretched his own legs out. She was always amazed at how Jack could fix just about anything. He had injected her was one of his healing potions he knew would work best, although she hadn't bothered to ask what was in it. She felt that she was probably better off at not knowing; but whatever was in the serum worked perfectly since her back was no longer hurting and the scratches and bruises on her skin had disappeared, including the one on her cheek. Though, she admitted that she still felt a little tired and annoyed from the earlier fight, so she opted to hang back on the front ship alone for a bit, sending away both Sam and Matilda for the time being.

She was still trying to figure out if she had done the right thing by banning Kato from challenging any S-Class mages for a while. She scratched behind one of Bones's ears, sighing at the thoughts running through her head. Normally she wouldn't worry so much about chewing someone out, but everything seemed different now that she was the guild master. While she had to establish her authority as the master, she also didn't want to come off as a complete bitch either. She quickly scratched her hands through her hair, "Stupid boys for getting in a fight! Now I have to figure out if I did the right thing! And I don't even have my coat anymore!"

"You mean this one?" someone called up to her in a teasing and friendly tone.

Cordelia looked down to see a man smiling up at her that she knew very well by the name of Isaak Marzell. The twenty-eight year old man stood tall at 6'4" with a slim and fit build, Cordelia having told him several times that he could pass for a male model. His skin was sun-kissed and fair which was flawless and without any blemishes. His long, silky silver hair was tied back into a ponytail at the base of his neck and reached down to his lower back. His bangs swept over his forehead and framed his face, hanging just above a pair of droopy, pale blue eyes that always seemed to hold a playful charm in them behind a pair of stylish, rectangular framed glasses. His midnight blue guild mark was on the top of his right hand, but often times it was covered up. He wore a dark blue coat that ended at his knees and was trimmed with a bronze color. The coat had many brown leather straps that had gold buckles on its sides, which held six brown leather pouches, three on each side of him, that were fastened shut with gold buttons. Within each pouch was a deck of Rune Cards. Underneath the coat, he wore a light gray tunic that had gold trimming and fell just past his waist. It was fastened shut all the way up to the collar while it was left open by the waist. He had on a pair of white pants that were tucked into a pair of brown boots that had brown straps on them with gold buckles. He also wore a brown leather belt around his torso, which had a long, brown holster on it on his left side to hold his firearm. And lastly, he wore a pair of fingerless, brown leather gloves.

"Isaak!" she said loudly, her face breaking out into a smile upon seeing him, "You found my coat!"

"Well, I was the one who caught it," he answered before he made his way up to the top of the cabin to join her. He handed the white coat over to her once he sat down, "You've been begging your mom for years to make you one and you just let it go so easily," he teased.

"Hush you!" she retorted as she pulled the coat back on and flung the long end of it out behind her, "It's not like I wanted to lose it. It just…happened," she mumbled as she looked away from him with a frown.

Isaak frowned at her reaction, not usually seeing one like that from her. He supposed today's earlier fight was still getting to her, which he could understand to an extent. She had something to prove by becoming the new guild master, especially after the horrible job that Gordon had previously done and what with her father's history as guild master. He was sure that was a lot for her to take on and she probably hadn't bothered to talk to anyone about it either.

"For what it's worth," he began, "I don't think you were wrong in doing what you did today."

Cordelia looked back towards him with a surprised look, always seeming to forget how well Isaak could read people. She was sure she was at the top of his list of the easiest people to read for a number of reasons.

"Don't let it get you down and don't think about it so much. It's done and over with now," he continued, "Plus, it'd be a shame to see a permanent frown etched into that pretty face of yours."

She blushed at his comment as she looked away from him again, "Geez, you're still such a flirt."

"Always! How long have we known each other now? Twelve years? You should know by now how I am," he said, laughing down at her. He gently poked her cheek to get her to look at him again and she eventually gave in with a sigh and a smile.

She turned back towards him and hugged him tightly, "Thanks."

He slung one arm around her in return, "You're welcome," he answered, letting a comfortable silence fill the space between them for a moment. Though, that didn't last very long, "So I heard from Seth that you got into a fight with the idiot."

Cordelia felt an eye twitch in annoyance at the mention of Eli, "Don't start talking about that idiot now! You're gonna ruin the good vibes I just got back!"

"You're going to have to eventually forgive him," Isaak grinned.

"On my own damn time! That guy definitely has to make it up to me this time!"

"I'm sure he eventually will," he said with a knowing smirk.

"What is that look for?"

"Nothing."

"No, it's definitely something. What do you know?"

"I know nothing!" he said as he jumped down from the roof they had been sitting on.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" she shouted as he began to walk away from the area, "Isaak! Get back here! Isaak!" she continued shouting as she finally jumped off of the roof and chased after him.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Devin McLain - DarkHyena**

**Kato - CrazyAnimeForever**

**Drayden Kresczech - GhostOfOnyx**

**Zhuue Krytek - Benthino**

**Jack 'Doc' Stahl - Benthino**

**Isaak Marzell - Dreadburner94**

CHA! I had so much fun with this chapter! That fight scene got way more intense than I thought it would, but I rather liked the way it turned out.

I think I have like one or two more introduction scenes left, so that's exciting for me. I think the intro chapters are always the hardest since I'm just starting to get to know the characters and finding the right way to introduce them and what other characters to pair them up with for friends and teams and such. So hopefully things should run fairly smoothly once we really start getting into the story and into bigger arcs.

Also, a HIUGE thank you to XLil MEkoX for surprising me with a drawing of Cordelia! Like seriously, I've been freaking out over this picture ever since I got it! Totally made my day! So! I will be putting up links to these awesome pics on my profile, so if you go there, you'll be able to check out the one for Cordelia as XLil MEkoX has stated they will be drawing more characters, so I'll let you know in the author's notes when more are up!

And thank God for Spring finally deciding to show up! I'm not sure where you all live, but it's been cold as hell where I'm at and I'm more than ready for the summer time! Bring on that heat wave already! I need that nice weather for my birthday in a few weeks! T.T

Anyways! Onto the reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed the last chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed all the new characters for last chapter. And I thought her new weapon was pretty awesome myself, lol. And I'm glad you didn't mind the change up with the more peaceful atmosphere. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Haha, yeah, Jean's got a bit of an odd quirk there, though only time will tell on how that all plays out. But I'm glad you enjoyed his jumping out the window bit, lol. Yeah, I originally had planned for Zinnia to be like an advisor, but her personality didn't quite fit for that role, and really, she'd just do whatever Cordelia decided on without any qualms. Seriously, I think if Cordelia decided to go cliff diving, Zinnia would go right along with her, lol. And I'm glad you enjoyed both Securus and John as well as those moments between Cordelia and Eli. Those really are fun for me! Yeah, the introductions are usually the hardest when it comes to figured out which characters go well together, so I'm glad to hear it's all turning out well. And yeah, Cordelia definitely had more crazy weapons up her sleeve, so Vi suits her quite well in that aspect. And I actually have heard of Black Rock Shooter (mostly from watching youtube videos -.-'), but I haven't actually watched it yet. But it looks pretty cool, so it's on my 'Eventually Gonna Watch' list. But I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one too!

**reven228 - **CHA! Glad you liked that scene with Jean! I had so much fun having him jump out that window! And I'm glad you enjoyed Sam's introduction as well as all the new characters! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **YES! HELLSING! It's one of my favorite mangas/animes ever! It's just so amazing and the detail in it (especially the manga) is just ridiculous! But I'm gald to see I can keep surprising you with things, lol. And I hope this chapter lightened your day up once again! Especially with Jack and Zhuue in it! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter as a whole!

**PlaguedAmbition - **Glad you enjoyed the intro for Securus! I really did have a lot of fun with his character! And his special mission will probably come up after the next arc, so we'll get to see it soon. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad to hear you liked the last chapter! Sam and Jean's scene was a lot of fun for me, so I'm glad you liked it as well! Bold…I think that's a good word for Kasra, lol. But I'm glad you enjoyed all the other characters as well. And I'll keep that idea in mind for a bonus chapter for Thunder Stone, so thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Haha, yeah, those boats really are huge, so they have just about everything they need on board, especially when they stop to restock things. And I'm glad you liked that anti-tank rifle, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **I'm really glad you're enjoying Cordelia as a guild master. She's just a lot of fun for me to write. And Gordon…that guy is basically gonna have to start over from scratch. His character will be worked on once the story starts moving along, so hopefully we'll end up seeing a change in his personality eventually and see him actually having some friends. But I'm glad you enjoyed Jean jumping out of that window, lol! And I'm glad you enjoyed Securus and his eye patch! Even if he is a lazy bum. And yeah, Kasra is definitely an interesting guy, lol! And yeah, Vi is definitely a huge asset for Cordelia and she loves to work, so the relationship works very well! But I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

**DarkHyena - **Glad you enjoyed Jean jumping out the window, lol. But yeah, Sam should do well at the advisor job. HA! The Might S-Class Rangers! I really did laugh at that since I pictured all five of them doing a Power Ranger pose, lol! But we got to meet that last S-Class this chapter and I really hope he turned out well for you! And I'm glad you liked Cordelia's new weapon! I can't wait until she gets to use it, which will be pretty soon I think. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**CryptozoologyConundrum - **That scene between Cordelia, Matilda and Sam is coming! I promise! Because I want to see that too, lol! But poor Sam! He's gonna have such a hard time with both women! Haha, Securus is pretty lazy, but he'll be pretty awesome once he's up and fighting! He is S-Class after all! And I'm glad you liked the friendship between him and John as well as Vi's character! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Glad that Mac turned out well for you! And Happy Birthday as well! Glad that the chapter could be a bit of a gift for you then! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you liked that first scene with Jean, Sam and Cordelia! And I'm glad to see both Sam and Securus on you favorites list! And it seems that you're not the only on that would like to see a scene between Cordelia, Matilda and Sam, so that should be happening in the near future some time. And I'm glad to see you're already interesting in the next arc to come! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **LOL, it seems a lot of people wanted to see him swan dive out of that window, but I don't think he'd like getting wet all that much. And I'm glad you liked Securus's character so much! I really enjoyed writing him and I tend to like lazy characters myself, so that made it fun to write him. And yes, Cordelia and her weapons! I'm pretty sure there's a trope phrase for her too, lol. But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one too!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yeah, the guild is definitely…uh…eccentric, lol! I'm sure we'll get to see some eventual interaction with Kasra and all the men he likes. And yeah, Gordon better be on the look out now that Cordelia has that new weapon. Poor guy can catch a break, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Jean jumping out that window, lol! I think I'm looking forward to more scene with Kasra and his flirting myself! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I think that's it for this chapter!

So I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	7. A Grammar Fanatic, Twins and a Hideaway

**A/N: **Whoo! A new chapter already!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7: A Grammar Fanatic, Twins and a Hideaway**

**April 5, X792 - Early Afternoon**

"So we're planning for a big party tonight, right?" Hagi asked, looking at the rather large group of mages that had gathered on the middle vessel. The young mage was looking to Seth and Eli since the two men had been the ones to prompt the idea.

"Right!" Seth answered, "It'll be a way to properly celebrate Cordelia becoming the master of the guild. It's a good way to start things off for her, especially after what happened earlier today," he said. Though he meant no harm in his comment, Kato still huffed in response to it.

"But we want it to be a surprise and that's hard to do on this guild," Eli added, "Especially with the way Cor is. She always has to know what's going on."

"So basically we need someone to keep her distracted until tonight," Amelia said before turning a knowing grin towards Hagi, the blonde sending her back the same smile. Both mages then turned to look back at Eli, causing the older man to stare at them with a quirked eyebrow.

"Whatever the two of you are thinking, the answer is no," Eli stated quickly.

"But you're perfect for the job!" Hagi began, hearts appearing in his eyes as well as floating all around him, "You've probably known Cordelia the longest next to Ace and Zinnia, so you know exactly how to distract her!"

"Have you forgotten that she's mad at me?" he retorted, trying to take a step away from the blonde man.

"Oh, but who could stay mad at a face like that?" Hagi continued, not backing down from the challenge, "Just use that charm of yours on her and everything's fixed!"

"Cor doesn't fall for my charm! She's about the only woman that doesn't!"

"Oh! So you've tried before?!" Amelia asked, looking just about as mischievous as Hagi.

"What?! No! She's just really dense to that stuff!"

"More like she's been around you long enough to know how to ignore it," Zinnia added in with a grin.

"Not helping, Zi!" Eli shouted.

"Isaak! Get back here!" Cordelia's shout suddenly interrupted the meeting that was going on, causing the group to look over to see Isaak come running up one of the metal bridges with Cordelia close on his heels.

"Marzell!" Eli shouted, irritation suddenly igniting in him from the silver haired man's appearance.

"Afternoon Eli," Isaak smiled widely at the man as he ran passed him. While the two men were rivals, Isaak tended to act much more friendly with Eli most of the time. It just wasn't like Isaak to be angry often and teasing Eli and getting him all riled up was rather fun and entertaining for him, "So you finally made it back from that mission, I see. I hope Seth did a good job looking after you."

"I don't need anyone looking after me!"

"I beg to differ."

Eli's irritation overflowed until his entire body was suddenly covered in rolling, red flames, "Let's see you take on my Red Fire!" he shouted, the extreme heat that came from the fire already having the people around him sweating and a hole beginning to burn through the deck where he was standing.

"You moron!" Cordelia shouted, calling out a huge squirt gun that she had specially made for scenarios like this. She quickly shot off a large stream of ice cold water at the man, snuffing out the fire. Smoke rose from his body and he stood there dripping for a moment before he turned on Cordelia with a glare.

"What the hell's your problem?!"

"You know better than to use that Red Fire of yours on any of the ships! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"

"So you can shoot off thousands of bullets at Ingrid, but I can't melt four-eyes over there?!"

"At least I'm not a moron," Isaak grinned, sliding his glasses up the bridge of his nose with just his middle finger rather than the two fingers he normally used.

Eli's eye twitched at the gesture he knew was meant for him, but Cordelia cut him off before he could retort.

"Of course you can't melt people! All that charm in your head has apparently left no brain for you to use!"

"I'm plenty smart!"

"Yeah right! You're the biggest idiot ever!"

"Look who's talking!"

As the two continued arguing, the large group behind them watched them in exasperation, wondering just how long the two would actually go back and forth.

"At least they're talking again," Amelia mentioned, "But I still think he should be the one to distract her for the party. He's good at doing it even when they're arguing."

"I agree with Mia," Zinnia said, "But maybe someone should go with them just to make sure they don't do anything stupid."

Hagi looked back and up at Seth with a sudden grin, Seth looking back down at him with a curious stare, "You're going with them. Just make sure they don't come back on this deck until tonight!"

"Can I take them below deck?" Seth asked.

"That works fine with me, so long as they don't come back up here. And it wouldn't hurt if you got them to stop fighting too. How am I suppose to pair them up if all they do is argue?!"

"Pair them up?"

"Never you mind," Hagi said, pushing the man towards the arguing duo, "Just fulfill your job!"

Seth nodded at him before walking up to the still fighting pair. He picked up one in each arm before walking off towards the stairs that led to the lower deck.

"Seth! What the hell?!" they both shouted, not appreciating the fact that they were now hanging sideways.

"Have you visited your mother lately?" he asked with a smile.

"I…no I suppose not," Cordelia mumbled in reply, "I've been busy these past few days."

"Well then, I think it's time you made a visit."

"But I don't want to go with this idiot! She's just gonna cry over the fact that we're fighting!"

"Then maybe you two should make up before we get down there," he said with a laugh.

The two looked at each other, each waiting for the other to apologize first, "No way!" they both shouted once it was obvious that neither would give in.

"Your poor mother!" Seth continued to laugh as he made his way down the stairs with the two in his hands practically crying as they went.

The group left up on the top deck sighed in relief once the trio was gone. Hagi then took over as the party planner and quickly began assigning tasks to everyone he could see.

**. : + : .**

"The sign needs to go up higher!" a young woman shouted to two other women who were standing on ladders and attempting to pin a sign up for the party.

This woman was named Aria Zephyrus and was nineteen years old. Even with her younger age, Aria was most likely the tallest woman on the guild at 6'3". She had a slim build with subtle muscle definition in her arms. Her legs were long and sleek and she had fairly large bust. She had a golden tan and her gray guild mark was right in the middle of her chest. Her grass green hair was messy and spiky, her bangs falling all around her head while the rest of it was tied back in a thick braid that reached her ankles. Her dark brown eyes peered out from behind pieces of her bangs and her left ear had a small, steel hoop. She wore a pair of black, mid-length shorts with yellow stripes running up the sides and a matching yellow belt. She had on a yellow and white striped bikini top under a cropped, dark gray vest that buckled above and under her bust. She also wore light green and white striped knee socks along with black and yellow sneakers. On her left forearm was an iron vambrace while a black wrist warmer was on her right wrist. She wore black fingerless gloves and an oval-shaped opal pendant on a leather cord around her neck. Finally, hanging loosely at her waist was a red and gold sheath that held a katana, red and gold cloths wrapped around the handle.

"I still do not understand why you are not the one placing the sign up, Aria," one of the women retorted, "You are much taller than the both of us and could finish this much quicker on your own."

"Because it's way more fun watchin' the two of you do this," Aria grinned widely.

"It is watching not watchin', my dear," the woman sighed. This woman was Alisa Madelynn and was older than Aria at twenty-five. As she had stated, she was much shorter than Aria at 5'7" with a slim and femininely muscular build with a smaller bust. Her fair skin mixed nicely with her long, midnight blue hair that was tied up in a high ponytail and big onyx eyes. Her sky blue guild mark peeked out from under her t-shirt on her right bicep and she had four bronze piercings on her right ear. She wore a tight, black t-shirt under a well-kept jean vest along with camouflage army pants tucked into black, leather boots. Finally, strapped to her back were two, large lead pipes.

"You're always talkin' so weird," Aria replied, "And stop tryin' to get me to talk like you! I don't wanna be a weirdo too!"

"I think you are quite weird on your own," Alisa stated, "And there are so many things wrong with all the things you just said."

"Uh…Alisa," the third woman began trying to be the voice of reason between the other two, "Maybe you should just let it go for now. You don't need to correct everything."

"You might let people get away with talking like buffoons, Zipporah, but I for one believe that language was created for a reason and we should not ruin it with horrible slang."

"Ruinin' languages should be the last of your problems when you can't even hang a sign up!" Aria shouted.

Zipporah Fieri only sighed in response, knowing that there was no stopping the women now. Zipporah was the same age as Alisa at twenty-five and the same height at 5'7". Though, she was built a bit differently than the other woman. She had a lean build with an above average bust and curvy hips. Her skin was light and she had a burgundy guild mark located on her lower back when it could be seen. Her dark red hair was short and styled into a pixie cut with one small braid hanging behind her right ear with it being tied off by two white beads. The small braid was long enough to hit her collar bone. Her bangs hung above her brown eyes and she had a light pink tattoo on the back of her neck of a lotus flower. She wore a sleeveless, dark brown leather tunic with a black muscle shirt underneath it along with black, skinny jeans. She had brown leather armguards on both arms and her jeans were tucked into short, leather boots that were kept half-laced, giving the appearance that she simply shoved her boots on most of the time. Finally, she had two leather belts at her waist that criss-crossed each other. From the left side hung two sheathed swords, a katana and a rapier. From her right side hung a simple pan flute.

"Ruining. It is ruining," Alisa stated, her tone becoming annoyed, "Just say it right at least once."

"Stop givin' me a hard time about how I talk and pin that sign up already!"

"I will do no such thing until you speak properly."

"You guys are making this out to be a bigger deal than it really is," Zipporah interrupted, not wanting a fight to break out, "Look, I already pinned my side up, so just put yours up, Alisa, and we can be done."

"Not until I hear her speak one sentence properly. It really is atrocious hearing her speaking patterns."

Aria's eye twitched as she listened to Alisa's comments before pulling her sword from its sheath, "I'll show you somethin' atrocious! Your fightin' abilities! You can't beat any of my Dragon Fangs! Let's show her how it's done Hiryu!" she shouted, speaking to the sword in her hand as it ignited in flames.

"If you so wish to fight me, then I'll show you how to finish a fight," Alisa replied, pulling out one of her lead pipes and pointed it at Aria.

"Oh no," Zipporah sighed, already knowing what was about to happen, "Don't use the Charge Beam at least."

"Charge Beam!" Alisa shouted, pulling any electricity that was on the main deck into the pipe. It was then released in a large beam towards Aria. It hit the tall girl, sending her flying across the deck and into Securus's back. She landed in a heap at his feet, smoke wafting up off of her from being electrocuted. He then picked her up by the back of her shirt and carried her over towards the other two girls, who had climbed off the ladders to face him.

"Sorry about that," Zipporah said, bowing to him in apology, "These two just got a little out of hand."

"It's fine. Just be more careful where you send her flying" he grunted, plopping Aria down next to the women, "Need some help hanging the sign?" he asked upon seeing the sign hanging on the ground since Alisa still hadn't pinned her side up.

"It would be appreciated," Alisa answered.

Securus pick up the fallen end and easily pinned it up, "There," was all he said before wondering off back towards whatever job he had been working on previously.

The three women stood there looking at the sign since Aria had managed to get back up on her feet. They all tilted their heads to the side with straight faces, "It's uneven," the all said in flat tones, realizing that Securus hadn't cared enough to make sure it looked straight.

"Let's just do this right," Zipporah said, "Aria, just bring it down to the right level since you are the tallest and Alisa, you can tell her if it's at the right level."

"Why did we not just do-"

"Just tell her if it's right or not!" Zipporah snapped, cutting off Alisa before they got into another argument.

"Right," both women finally answered and set out to do the job properly.

**. : + : .**

Drayden made his way over towards one of the training ships in order to get a couple of mages to help him out with setting up streamers across the entirety of the middle vessel. He figured throwing the streamers towards other people while it unraveled would be a lot easier than unrolling it himself; and since everyone else was busy with other tasks, he had to go hunt down someone. He knew two mages that would be free at the moment as well since he hadn't seen them on the middle ship. He may not have been as close to them as say Jay or Ace, but he was close enough friends with one of them that they should be willing to help him out.

He finally made his way onto the deck of one of the training ships and saw he was in luck that he had found them on the first try.

"Alexander!" Drayden called out to the boy he saw first.

The nineteen year old looked behind him to see Drayden walking up to him, turning away from the training his sister was doing. Alexander was much taller than Drayden at 6'4" while his build was lithe and muscular and he had a dark tan. He had reddish brown hair that was tied in a small braid at the nape of his neck and pieces of his bangs fell into red-brown eyes. He had a splatter of freckles across his nose and cheeks while his dark red guild mark was on the palm of his left hand. He wore worn yellow pants that were loose and easy to move in. The left leg of the pants was pinned down to the lower half of it, considering it was a wooden-made prosthetic. He had on a light orange shirt that he wore open with the symbol of the guild stitched all along the hems. He had sunglasses propped up on top of his head and he wore a pair of simple sandals. He also had three white rings on the shell of his left ear. At his hips, he had a steel katana in a wooden sheath and its pommel was wrapped in leather and it was paired with a wakizashi made with the same details.

"Yo! Drayden!" Alexander replied with a smile, "What's up?"

"Not much," he answered, "But I came to hunt you two down to help me out with something. Been training for a while?"

"For a couple hours now," Alexander answered, "Alai wanted to work on her Speed and Light Magic in order to help us use our Unison Raid ability better."

"I see," Drayden said, "Made any progress?"

"A little I suppose," he replied, "But I still think we have a long way to go. Plus, we still have to factor in the wooden leg," he explained, smacking his hand against the fake half of his left leg.

"You really should let Vi look into making you a better prosthetic for you," Drayden said, "I'm sure Cordelia could convince her to make a little something for you."

"Don't worry about it," Alexander waved him off, "I can fend for myself in that area."

"If you say so," Drayden shrugged, "So can I get the both of you to help me with something?"

"I guess it would be good for her to take a break before she drains herself of energy and magic," Alexander said before calling out to his twin sister, "Alai!"

The other nineteen year old mage instantly came to stop in the middle of using one of her speed spells, looking over towards the two men watching her. She stood much shorter than Alexander at 5'6", but her build was also lithe and muscular and she had a dark tan like her brother along with the same splattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She also had a flat chest, which ended up being very helpful in allowing her to move quicker. She had the same reddish brown hair as her brother. It was cropped rather short to her skull, being a little spiky from the bit that was grown out. She had actually wanted to shave it all off several times to give her less air resistance, but her brother vetoed the idea every time. Her eyes were a red brown and her dark orange guild mark was on the palm of her right hand. She also had three black rings along the shell of her right ear and scars along her hands and arms from fighting. She wore worn tan pants that were loose and easy to move in. This was paired with a light-weight, dark gray t-shirt and a gray, lightly armored vest. She also wore a bright red headband, pushing what little bangs she had backwards. She was often times barefoot, but at the moment she was wearing flat, woven black shoes that had good traction on them to help with her training, and her hands were wrapped in white bandaging. Finally, she had two large packs of senbon on either side of her.

"Why'd you stop me?" Alai asked once she had approached her brother and Drayden. She stood closer towards her brother, almost using him as a shield between herself an the other man. While she knew Drayden and he had hung out with Alexander a few times before, she was very bad at social interactions and that made her anxious; so it was just easier to put her more open and optimistic brother in between herself and other people. Luckily, Drayden never seemed to mind how she reacted to social situations and had never taken offense to anything she did or said around him.

"Drayden here would like our help with something," Alexander smiled down at her.

"Is it a fight?" she asked, a sliver of hope shining in her eyes. Though she might not have been very good at social interaction, Alai excelled at battles and sparring and it was her way of getting to know a person rather than asking them questions.

"No, not a fight," Drayden answered, smiling softly underneath his cowl. He had always found the oddness of Alexander's twin rather cute since it was different than many of the girls in the guild, "I have to do some decorating for the party tonight and I need some help with it."

"Party?" Alexander asked, smiling at the prospect of hanging out with everyone on the guild.

"I don't like parties," Alai stated bluntly, "Too many people."

"It's to celebrate Cordelia becoming the new guild master," Drayden said.

"Is it now?" Alexander replied. He still wasn't sure how to feel about Cordelia. He didn't dislike her, but he hadn't had many chances to get to know her well like Drayden had, considering how close he was with Ace. While he was friendly with everyone he met, he still had a cautious side to him that had allowed him to protect himself and his sister a few times. Though, he still liked the idea of a party no matter the reason behind it.

"You should really get to know her better," Drayden said, knowing what the other man was thinking by the look on his face, "You'd probably get along well with her and, like I said, she could hook you up with a better leg through Vi. She is the new guild master, after all, so you'll have to interact with her at some point."

It was then that Alai tugged on his shirt, causing him to look down at her, "She did keep her promise of defeating Gordon and taking over the guild," she said. She had always felt respect for Cordelia due to her position as an S-Class mage. She was strong and Alai had a respect for strong people. On top of that, Cordelia had made a promise of taking down Gordon and she had kept that promise. Alai highly valued that about the new guild master.

"Well now," Alexander began with a chuckle, "If you're willing to go to a party for Cordelia, who am I to say no to that?" he said, looking back at Drayden, "All right, we'll help you out."

"Great," he said, smiling underneath his cowl again, silently thanking Alai for convincing her brother into helping him.

**. : + : .**

Seth carried the still annoyed pair all the way to the lower deck that held the large home of the Murdocks. Once they stood in front of the metal door that led into the home, he sat them both on their feet. The two stared at each other for a moment before they both rushed to open the door first, knowing whoever would reach Regina first would have an advantage over the other. Unfortunately for Eli, Cordelia smacked a hand back into his stomach, causing him to falter and allow her to open the door first.

She threw it open and began to shout the moment she stepped inside the home, "Mama!"

A head full of orange hair popped out from the kitchen, revealing Cordelia's mother, Regina Murdock. The woman's face was a bit worn, but it was still plenty cheerful as she stepped out from the kitchen to smile widely at the trio that had entered her home. Her build was relatively close to her daughter's, being the same height as Cordelia, though her frame was a bit slimmer. Her orange hair still retained its bright color even in her older age and it was long like Cordelia's, though a bit more untamed looking. She had the same ocean blue eyes as her daughter and her skin was a sun-kissed tan while her bright orange guild mark was on top of her left hand. She had several piercings of gold and silver studs up along her ears and a gorgeous diamond ring on her left hand. She wore fitted tan pants that were tucked into tall, brown leather boots along with a sea-green shirt with the sleeves coming down to the middle of her forearms. She wore a white sash around her hips, being threaded through the belt loops of her pants. On the ends of the sash were imprints of the guild symbol in sea-green.

"Cordelia!" Regina shouted in return, throwing her arms open for her daughter. She hugged Cordelia tightly once the new guild master practically tackled her, "What's wrong?" she asked upon hearing the fake sniffs coming from her.

"Eli! He's being so mean to me!" she cried, forcing tears to appear at the corners of her eyes.

Regina gasped loudly and pulled her daughter away from the men, sending a glare towards Eli, "Are you still picking on my baby after all these years?!"

Eli and Finn, who had been sitting in the living room of the home, sighed in response to the woman's outburst while Seth simply laughed at the scene, having seen many like it before.

'Leave it to Gina to be gullible enough to believe the first story she hears,' Finn thought, rolling his eyes. While he loved his wife dearly, she tended to be dense like their son, maybe even more so. If someone told her that fish could fly and birds could swim, she would believe them until he could convince her of it otherwise. So needless to say, their children had learned at a young age that whoever got to Regina first would almost always win the argument since she would instantly believe them unless he decided to intervene, which wasn't very often. This fact of life had also trickled down to many of their friends over the years, especially Eli and Zinnia, who the Murdocks had practically adopted.

"Aren't you gonna do something about this, old man?" Eli grumbled at him.

"More trouble than it's worth," Finn replied, not bothering to put the book he was reading down, "What did you do to her this time anyways?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"He did so!" Cordelia continued her fake crying, "He never congratulated me for becoming the guild master, mama! And then he laughed at me and said he was happy that he didn't have to go on missions with me anymore!"

"And you wonder why I think you're still a kid," Eli mumbled before earning a hard whack to the back of the head from Regina, the woman having rolled up a newspaper to hit him with. She continued to hit him with the newspaper, causing him to try and run from her, "This whole family is crazy!"

"Apologize to my baby right now!"

"I still don't know why I have to apologize!"

"You made her cry! And of all the people on this ship, you should have been the first to congratulate her!"

The two continued running around the living room while Cordelia was off to the side pretending to cry with Seth laughing from the other side of the room. Finn sat in the middle of it all, pinching the bridge of his nose, sighing.

"Why is this my life?" he mumbled to himself.

"She soaked me with a squirt gun! Doesn't that count for anything?!" Eli shouted, trying to get Regina on his side.

"But he…he…he was gonna burn down my guild!" Cordelia cried harder and louder, knowing she had her mom wrapped around her finger at this point. There was no way Eli was going to win this battle.

"I thought we raised you better than that!" Regina shouted.

Eli furiously scratched his head, angry that Cordelia had gotten to Regina first. He knew he had lost the battle right then, "Fine!" he yelled, coming to a stop and earning one last smack to the head from the older woman, "I apologize for laughing at her and I'm happy to see her as guild master!"

"Good boy," Regina smiled, "Now, Cordelia, go accept his apology with a hug. I don't want any bad feelings in this home."

Cordelia nodded at her while pretending to rub the tears out of her eyes. The two stared each other down for a moment when she came to stand in front of Eli. She then moved in to hug him, a devilish smirk appearing on her lips since she faced away from her mother, "You gotta learn how to play the game better," she whispered to him, causing Eli to hug her tighter than he should have in response. She suddenly couldn't breath in the tight grasp and pinched his arm in response to get him to let her go. He did let go quickly, but didn't make a big scene about it while still being in the presence of her mother.

"All right then," Regina began, "Who would like some cookies? I just finished with a few batches a bit ago. You can have a whole to yourself, Seth," she said, smiling over at the large man, knowing he could eat more than the other two.

"Yes ma'am!" Seth answered, moving through the living room to walk into the kitchen with everyone else.

Finn sighed again, knowing how obvious it was that Eli and Cordelia hadn't really made up with each other, but he wasn't in the mood to try and explain that to his wife. So long as they played nice the rest of the time they were here and in front of Regina, he didn't really care.

The group walked into the kitchen to see a man in the middle of eating a cookie and reaching across the table to grab the pitcher of milk Regina had laid out for him. He stared at them with large eyes, feeling a bit surprised at getting caught by so many people.

"Gamu!" Cordelia shouted happily as she ran over to the man to give him a hug. He was slung back in his chair as Cordelia jumped on him, excited to see him out from the bowels of the ship for once.

The man's full name was Gamu Crits and he was the same age as Eli at twenty-nine. He was short compared to the other two men in the kitchen, standing only at 5'7". His build was rather skinny, the man having a higher metabolism than most, and his skin was pale from not being outside often. His bright green hair was styled into two, spiky mohawks that stuck up several inches. His eyes were blue and always tended to be a little wider than most with large bags under them. His dark green guild mark was located on the back of his neck. He had one square, black metal peg through his nose while pieces of his left ear were missing from an explosion many years ago. He wore a simple outfit of a dark blue tank top and black cargo shorts. He was currently barefoot, but had a pair of straw sandals if he needed them.

Gamu muffled Cordelia's name in reply, the cookie still in his mouth.

"Chew and swallow," Regina smiled over at him as she began to pour glasses of milk for everyone.

Gamu did as she told him and quickly finished off the cookie in his mouth, "Cordelia!" he repeated in a clearer tone, wrapping an arm around her to make sure she didn't fall to the ground.

"You came out from your hiding spot! I'm so glad to see you out!" she said, nuzzling his face playfully. She had immediately liked Gamu the moment Duke brought him onto the ship six years ago, so she had been rather sad to see him disappear below deck three years ago when Gordon won the battle for the spot of guild master. Gamu didn't take well to change and he had disliked Gordon, so he had decided to disappear down into the bowels of the deck for the past three years, which explained his pale and tired appearance. Cordelia and a few others knew where he had wondered off too though, and they would make frequent visits to him, but none of them had ever seemed to be able to convince him to come up above deck again. It was hard to get him to do anything he had set his mind on, especially after Duke had left for his long mission, "What made you come out?" Cordelia asked.

"Finn came and…" he began, though he quickly drifted off as pieces of Cordelia's hair distracted him. He absently started playing with the free strands of hair, completely forgetting about the conversation. This caused the rest of the group to sweat drop in response.

"Finn went and found him to tell him that you took over as guild master," Regina explained in his place, "He thought that it might get him out from the lower decks. Looks like it worked," she smiled over at the distracted man.

"Well, we still have to get him outside," Seth mentioned, "He hasn't gotten very far by only coming here. Fresh air will be good for him too."

"Will you come outside with us when we're finished here?" Cordelia asked, managing to catch Gamu's attention again. Though, he was stopped right in the middle of his stitching up a sleeve of her coat that had gotten a little ripped from the fight earlier that day. His Stitching Magic made it easy for him to complete the task, but he always seemed to have a habit of using it at odd times, so this caused the room to falter again at his actions, though Cordelia was grateful for the fix up nonetheless.

"Outside?" he asked, tilting his head to the side as he thought about it, "Can we have fun outside?"

"Of course!" Cordelia grinned, "We can go explore the whole guild again since you've been hidden away for three years!"

"I like exploring," he said, giving her a goofy smile as he returned to his work of stitching up her coat, "I'm glad that you're the guild master now," he added quietly, "Duke trusted you, so I trust you too."

Cordelia grinned widely as little flowers popped up around her, feeling happier than how her day had started. Gamu always had this way of making her smile even if he was easily distracted most of the time, "GAH! You're just so cute!" she shouted as she hugged the man again.

"I don't think cute is the right word," Eli mumbled while Seth and Regina simply laughed in response.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we go! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Aria Zephyrus - LightandDarkHeart**

**Alisa Madelynn - RansomeNote**

**Zipporah Fieri - XLil MEkoX**

**Alexander - Robinfyre**

**Alai - Robinfyre**

**Regina Murdock - MyDearWatson**

**Gamu Crits - AkumaXHwaorang**

Phew! We've made it through all the character introductions! I thought I would have one more chapter of introducing people, but then I pulled up who I had left and I was so excited to see that I only had one grouping left! So! With that being said, there will be one more chapter to the Introduction Arc, that being the actual party. Then we'll be able to get into the first actual big arc! CHA! So excited right now!

And if you haven't checked it out already, Zinnia's picture is up on my profile page! Thanks again to XLil MEkoX for her picture! It's so awesome!

Also! You all should check out a couple other stories if you haven't already! That being Dreadburner94's A Tale of Two Guilds, which I believe he's still accepting OCs for! The other being Origm2012's The Brightholt Chronicles! Both stories are amazingly written and well worth the read!

I don't think I have anything else today, so we'll just jump right into those awesome reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed the last chapter!

**Origm2012 - **LOL! Yeah, I feel like I update at weird times and a lot of those times happens to be really late at night. I'm sorry to keep you from your sleep! T.T But I'm glad you like all the fights that are going on! It's really fun for me to write! Glad you enjoyed Devin's magic as well. I thought it was really cool when I got it since I like the theme of angels and I thought he fit really well for an S-Class spot, so I'm glad to see that a lot of other people enjoyed his character as well. And yeah, I'm liking the whole new guild master aspect as well since she'll have to go through things that she may have a hard time dealing with and what not. It's kinda fun to watch her grow along with all the other guild members. And yes! I've been wanting to use Seth's magic since you sent him in, so I snuck that right in there! So I'm really excited to get into this new arc since we'll get to see more awesome things from him as well as everyone else, since I have yet to reveal everyone's magic. And also yes! Cordelia definitely put Kato in his place! That's my girl! LOL! And yeah, poor Zhuue not being able to talk anymore, but I'm glad you liked Jack's character. Isaak is definitely the good guy, though that may change a bit when he's around Eli, lol. And I totally had Kiss the Girl stuck in my head the whole day after I read your review! Seriously, I was just walking around my apartment and I suddenly found myself singing it out loud and I had to a stop for a moment when I realized what I was doing! T.T And my comment better not summon that cold weather! But thanks for the early birthday wish! ^.^ Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **Glad you enjoyed the chapter! As well as Kato's introduction! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **^.^ Happy to hear that Jack and Zhuue turned out so well for you! I really enjoy writing Zhuue since she's just so much fun. So I'll do my best to keep writing them the way you've envisioned them! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! I actually haven't thought of teams yet, so that's something I still need to work out! But I'm sure we'll have some pretty cool ones! And I'm happy to hear you're enjoying Cordelia's character! And I'm glad you liked Devin as well! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **Yeah, I wanted to do that solo mission for him sooner rather than later so readers can see that other side of him. But I'm glad that you liked the last chapter and the characters introduced! Yeah, Devin's got work on that whole take over thing, lol. But not having full control of things seems to be a theme for the S-Class this time around, at least for two of them anyways. And a fight between Securus and Devin would be pretty intense, so I'm not sure if that'll happen. Poor Cordelia having to separate those two would be even harder than what she just went through with Devin! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **I know! You were all so patient for a new chapter! But I was having a bit of a hard time choosing who to pick for that last chapter after the fight was done and how to introduce them, but it seems that it turned out well. This update was a bit quicker though! And I'm glad you enjoyed that last batch of characters! And yeah, take your time drawing the characters! I'm sure whatever you come up with will be awesome like they have been so far! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **Glad you enjoyed that last chapter and that it's getting you hyped up for what's to come! LOL, yeah that power ranger comment was great! And it seemed that many of you actually enjoyed it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yeah, Devin's other souls are pretty strong and we may be seeing one of them pretty soon. And yeah, Kato isn't the brightest bulb around when it comes to challenging Devin constantly like that and after losing so many times. Glad you enjoyed that fight between Cordelia and Devin! And I'm glad you liked Zhuue too! She was a lot of fun for me to write! And yeah, Isaak definitely knows how to get under Cordelia's skin, but he means well by it, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**DarkHyena - **I'm really happy to hear that Devin turned out so well for you! I really enjoyed writing his scene too! And yeah, Drayden definitely saved the day there! But I don't think that people would be scared of Devin…at least not a lot of them anyways. And I'm glad that you enjoyed Jack and Zhuue! And yeah, you should let those time traveling powers recharge, lol. But hopefully this update was quick enough for you to not have had to use them anyways. And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad you enjoyed that fight between Devin and Cordelia! And yeah, I figured it was time to show a bit of a more serious fight between the guild members. I actually haven't ever played the DMC games, but I think that's cool that it had that vibe for you. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Well, you know my thoughts on that review since I had to PM you about it, lol. But after reading it again, it still made me laugh, but luckily not in public this time -.-' So I thank you for taking the time to write all that out! And that little bit with Cordelia was great too! But I'm glad that you enjoyed Isaak's scene with Cordelia! I thought he would be best at comforting her since she's still mad at Eli…actually, you know what, Isaak would still probably be better at the comforting bit than Eli even if they weren't fighting, lol! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter and the fight scene that was in it! And yeah, Kato does not loose gracefully at all…but I partly blame that on him not being the sharpest crayon in the box, lol. But I'm glad you enjoyed Cordelia coming into the fight as well. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Yeah, Devin isn't one that you would want to mess with, considering how things turned out for Kato. Maybe he should wear a warning sign, lol. *Looks away from reader quickly* I plead the fifth with Cordelia and Isaak or any other romantic guesses that might be made! (Besides Cordelia and Eli, of course, since that's been made a bit obvious, lol.) But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Glad to hear you enjoyed the chapter and the intense fight we had in it! But I'm glad you enjoyed the new characters and the interactions going on! And I hope you liked those drawings too! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Oh yeah! Kato definitely messed up big time for Cordelia to react that way! But she's also gonna be having bigger problems than just some hyped up guild members in the near future, so she'll get to experience more of those burdens. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yeah, that fight definitely turned out intense! But I'm glad you enjoyed the fighting scene! Hopefully Kato will take Cordelia's words to heart! I hope Aria turned out well for you! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be all I have for this chapter then!

I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	8. We Came to Party Hard!

**A/N: **CHA! The last chapter for the Introduction Arc!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 8: We Came to Party Hard!**

**April 5, X792 - After Dusk**

"Leave it to Cordelia to be late to her own party," Zinnia said, giggling to herself as she made her way down to the Murdock home. Bones trotted along next to her, his tongue lolled out to the side as usual, "Though, I do suppose it's not quite her fault since it's a surprise. We'll just blame Eli for her tardiness, right Bones?" she continued, looking down at the hound next to her. He barked loudly in reply as if to concur with her, "I'm glad we're in agreement," she said as they came to a stop in front of the familiar Murdock door. She could already hear yelling coming from the inside of the home, causing her smile to widen, "Sounds like home!" she announced before throwing the door open.

The scene before her had her laughing in almost an instant. The living room had been cleared away of all furniture, save for the recliner that Finn sat in while he continued to try to desperately ignore his family. Gamu was perched on top of the couch that had been moved up against a wall, a spinner in his hands with dots of yellow, blue, green and red covering it. Smack dab in the middle of the floor was the rest of the family in a tangled mess on top of a Twister board.

"Flick the damn spinner already!" Eli shouted, the man practically doing the splits to reach blue and green dots while the rest of his body was in between Cordelia and Seth, his hands stretching out for another blue dot as well as a red dot.

"Don't yell at him!" Cordelia snapped, her own body arched over Eli's in order for her hands to reach the correct colored dots. Her hair hung in Regina's face while she did her best to not step on Seth's hands, "He's been doing good so far!"

"Not when he keeps getting distracted after each spin!" Eli retorted, "Who even made him the spinner?! Oi! Old man! Go spin the next color already!"

"You did this to yourself," Finn replied, not bothering to look up from his book.

"I think it's been a fun game so far," Seth grinned, the large man somehow managing to keep his side from hitting the ground as he reach out for the correct colors from underneath Eli. Although the later half of his body was propped up a bit more in order to keep himself from smashing Regina against the floor.

"I agree with Seth!" Regina grinned, sprawled out across the board. Though, she was having a hard time trying not to sneeze from her daughter's hair tickling her nose.

"That's only because this was your idea!" Eli retorted, "How the hell did I get roped into playing again?!"

"Because you owed me!" Cordelia answered, "Gamu! It really would be much appreciated if you would tell us the next move. We've been stuck this way for ten minutes now."

"Ah," Gamu answered, having to pull his attention away from the stitched patches on the couch, "Sorry," he said as he flicked the spinning arrow. He grinned when it stopped and looked back up at the players on the floor, "Left hand yellow."

"Jesus Christ! You've gotta be kidding me!" Eli yelled since he would have to somehow contort his body to reach the specified color with his hand.

"It's not that hard," Seth said, being the first to slap a yellow spot with his left hand.

"Yeah, well, you're not doing the splits right now either," Eli grumbled, but somehow managed to touch his fingertips to a yellow spot.

"Stop complaining," Cordelia said, "At least you don't have to do the crab walk to reach one. Do you even know how hard it is to keep your back arched like this for over ten minutes?!" she continued, trying to reach out for the yellow spot. In the middle of her moving, her hair continued to brush along Regina's nose. The older woman finally couldn't take it anymore and sneezed hard enough to have everyone falling across the board with her. They all landed with a loud 'oof' while Cordelia and Seth quickly began to laugh afterwards. Eli sat stuck in between the two laughing idiots with a less than amused look on his face.

"Did I do something wrong?" Gamu asked, looking worriedly between the spinner and the fallen players, thinking that his spinning had caused the entire downfall of the game. This question only prompted Cordelia and Seth to laugh harder. It was then that Zinnia finally released her own laughter, causing everyone in the room to look over at her.

"Zi!" Cordelia shouted happily, jumping up off of the group on the floor and running to the door, "Where have you been all day?!" she asked as she smothered her in a hug.

"Around," Zinnia answered, "Looks like you all were having fun. And you even got Gamu to come out of his hiding spot!"

"I know, right?!" Cordelia said, "It really was thanks to my dad, but we'll be the ones taking him outside."

"That's great! I came to get you actually!"

"Get me for what?" she asked, rubbing the top of Bones's head.

"You're about to find out. Come on!" she answered as she grabbed onto Cordelia's hand and pulled her out of the home.

"You three better hurry up and follow her!" Regina smiled at the three younger men, "You don't want to miss the party!"

"Well, we need to figure out how to get Gamu outside first," Eli began. Though, he quickly jumped away from Seth in shock when he suddenly saw Gamu now perched on top of one of his shoulders, "What the hell?! When did that even happen?!"

"Don't know really," Seth answered with a shrug and a smile, "But it looks like he's ready to go."

"Ready to go," Gamu repeated, "Let's go exploring," he smiled down at Eli.

"You're not a parrot, I hope you know," Eli said, "But whatever. So long as this works, let's head up."

"Have fun!" Regina chirped, waving goodbye at them with a smile, "Say bye to the boys, Finn," she said, though she only earned a grunt from the man. This caused her to smack him in the chest hard, making him cough out in response, "Say goodbye to the boys, Finn," she repeated, still holding her smile.

"Don't do anything stupid," was his response and Regina supposed it was better than nothing.

She walked off into the kitchen after pecking him on the cheek, "Oh! And be a peach and put the living room back in order!" she called out cheerfully.

Finn stared out at the mess his family had left the living room in before letting out a heavy sigh, "Why am I always the clean-up crew?" he mumbled as he moved to start cleaning things up.

**. : + : .**

"What are you in such a hurry for, Zi?" Cordelia asked while she was still being dragged up to the top deck by the brunette in front of her.

"It's a surprise!"

"It better be a good one! You almost smacked me into the wall around that last corner!"

"It'll be worth it! I promise!"

Zinnia finally came to the stairs that would led up to the top deck and ran full speed up them. When the two women along with Bones broke to the surface, they were greeted with nothing but darkness. They stood there for a long moment, Cordelia being a bit freaked out by the lack of the usual noise on the ship.

"What's going on?" Cordelia asked, worry starting to overcome her, "Where is everyone?"

At this question, the three men that they had left behind finally came up from the lower decks. Though, they didn't seem as worried about the darkness and Cordelia didn't have any longer to worry either as lights exploded all around them and the entire guild shouted 'surprise' happily to their new guild master. Cordelia's jaw dropped as she stared at all the décor, food and drinks that covered the entire top deck. And she was surprised to see that everyone was there, even Gordon who stood off in the back with crossed arms.

Before Cordelia could say anything in response, Gamu beat her to the punch, "Do I get to have a party because Finn found me?"

Cordelia snorted out in laughter while everyone stared at the man with wide, surprised eyes, "GAMU!" they all shouted, not at all expecting to see him out and about.

"What is all this?" Cordelia asked.

"It's a party to celebrate you becoming the new guild master!" Hagi answered.

"Really?!" Cordelia replied, a huge smile splitting across her face when she earned nods in response. She then looked up at Gamu, "Well, what do you say, Gamu? Want to have a party?"

He cocked his head to the side as he thought about it. Another goofy smile quickly spread across his face when he came to a decision, "Yeah. Parties are supposed to be fun, right?"

"Right!"

"Then we should party," he answered.

"CHA! Well then, what are we waiting for?! Let's get this started!" Cordelia shouted, the guild cheering in reply to her answer.

Almost instantly people spread out across the deck as loud music began to play and drinks already started to pop open. Cordelia was dragged into the crowd by Zinnia, the two women walking over towards one of the bars. Though, half way there, Cordelia was quickly stopped by an arm slinking across her shoulders. She looked up to see Ingrid was the one currently pawing at her with a sly smile.

"GAH! YOU'RE TOUCHING ME!" Cordelia shouted, her eyes wide in anger and her teeth turned sharp momentarily.

"Oh, but my lovely Cordelia, isn't it the proper thing to do by giving someone a hug to congratulate them?" Ingrid practically purred into her ear, knowing that she would instantly get under the guild master's skin by doing it.

"I'm glad I stabbed your file!"

"Excuse me?" Ingrid asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"None of your business! What the hell do you want?!"

"I thought it was about time for another one of our wonderful challenges," she said, her sly smile returning, "How about a drinking contest this time?"

Cordelia eyed the woman for a moment before replying, "I don't know why you're requesting that. You lose every time we have one."

"Maybe I could win for the first time," Ingrid answered, "Maybe I wanted to give you a win as a gift for becoming my lovely new guild master. I suppose we'll never know now if you're not willing to play," she shrugged, beginning to walk away from Cordelia.

With a win against Ingrid on the line, Cordelia quickly stopped her, "I never said I wouldn't do it! So let me show you how real drinking is done!"

"Of course, my dear," Ingrid answered, following Cordelia up to the bar where Zinnia sat. Cordelia felt her eye twitch in even more irritation when she saw that Zinnia was speaking with Kasra at the moment.

"Miss Murdock," Kasra began when he saw the two women approach the bar, "What a wonderful party you have going on tonight."

"Yeah, so don't ruin my mood!"

"I wouldn't dream of it," he smiled over at her before taking a drink of one of his specialized black teas, the man preferring not to drink alcohol most of the time.

"Ah, Kasra, love," Ingrid smiled upon seeing the man and quickly made her way over to him. She slid her arms around him much like she had done to Cordelia previously. Even though it was quite obvious that Kasra preferred men, he never minded the affections of women; and over the short time that Ingrid had been part of the crew, he had come to quite like her company. Plus, it irritated Cordelia to no end when the two of them were together and around her, which both seemed to find amusement in.

"Hello Ingrid," he answered, allowing the woman to hang on him, "How are you on this spring evening."

"Wonderful as always," she said, "Especially now that I've gotten our lovely Cordelia to agree to a drinking contest. You will watch over me if I happen to drink a little too much, won't you?"

"Of course, just like always."

"Perfect," she said, turning to look back at Cordelia. The guild master wore a look of disgust while Zinnia was giggling next to her, "Well, are we going to start?"

Cordelia felt her eye twitch again, but reminded herself that this was for a win against her rival, "Oi! Bartender! Two beers and keep them coming!"

"Is it wise to let our guild master become inebriated?" Kasra asked.

"Yes, it is her party after all," Ingrid answered.

"And you better add in a shot of whiskey to that order!" Cordelia shouted, knowing she would need that extra punch to start off her night.

**. : + : .**

The party was well under way and Tazz and the boys were fully enjoying the atmosphere around them. They had been drinking just like everyone else and somewhere along way, Tazz thought it would be a good idea to travel around the deck in skates and had momentarily disappeared to go grab some from her room in the co-ed dorms.

"Can I ask why you just happened to have four pairs of skates in your room?" Chris asked after he had finished putting his own on.

"That's for me to know and you to probably never find out why," Tazz answered with a grin, "And don't complain! This is gonna be fun!"

"What if we're not very good at it?" Lance asked, trying to balance himself out when he stood.

"That's why we're gonna do this in a line! It'll be even more fun that way!" Tazz said.

"And everyone should learn how to skate," Rio smirked, taking off on the blades before jumping over a table and causing people to dive out of the way. He jumped a few more tables before grinding across one of the long bar tops, laughing in response when he heard people yelling at him as he zipped past them. He came sliding to a stop when he rounded back to his friends, "Just like that too," he grinned.

"What a show off!" Chris said, playfully pushing Rio in the arm.

"Well I'm glad to see someone else knows how to skate," Tazz smiled, "So I'll be leading the way and Rio can be in the back. That way we can put you two less experienced skaters in the middle to make sure you don't go flying off somewhere."

"Why do you get to be in the front?!" Rio shouted.

"Because I'm shorter than you!"

"Don't argue," Lance interrupted, "We're supposed to be having fun, right? Just be in the back, show off," he said with his own smile.

"Fine," Rio grunted.

The group lined up with Chris behind Tazz and Lance right behind him with Rio finishing up the group. Tazz grabbed what was left of her drink from the table they had been sitting at and quickly downed it.

"You boys ready?!" she asked, earning nods from them, "Let's do this!"

She took off quickly, the boys having to grab on tighter than they expected to make sure their line didn't break. They started off easy for Chris's and Lance's sake, but once Tazz felt they had gone slow enough and she could tell that Rio was getting annoyed with the slow pace, she kicked it up a notch. She grinned as they were about to pass the music booth, looking up to see Devin playing DJ for the night.

"Oi! Devin!" she shouted, managing to catch his attention, "Crank it up, would ya?!"

He nodded at her, smirking at the sight of the boys behind her. He flipped it over to a more upbeat song and turned up the volume, bopping his head to the beat. Tazz waved at him in thanks before taking off at a quicker pace, weaving around all the tables and chairs and people. She moved with the beat of the music as well, causing their line to sway back and forth slightly.

"See! It's not that hard!" she shouted, glancing back at the boys.

"You idiot! Look where you're going!" Rio yelled, pointing ahead of them.

Tazz turned back around to see she was heading straight for a table where Nanami, Securus and John sat at. Chris, Lance and Rio detached themselves from the line, leaving only Tazz to crash into the table and knock over Nanami in the process.

Securus and John grabbed onto the sake bottles and cups that had littered the table, making sure nothing would spill. John then looked down at the women sprawled across the ground, "You ladies alright?" he asked, moving to help Nanami stand back up. He moved to help Tazz next, but Nanami quickly intervened.

"Thank you, John-kun, but I've got this one handled," she said gently, waving him back to his seat, "Looks like we meet again, Tazz-san," Nanami smiled down at the younger girl.

"Ahaha," Tazz laughed nervously, knowing she was in for it know. She didn't have her bike with her to make a quick get away and she obviously couldn't do much in skates, "You wouldn't do anything too horrible at a party, right?"

"Why are you so nervous, Tazz-san?" Nanami asked, the smile still on her face, "I simply want to know if you would like to have a drink with us," she said, motioning back over to the two men she had been sitting with and the drinks that covered the table.

"Well…sure, if you're inviting me," Tazz said, surprised with the turn of events.

She finally stood back up and was about to move towards the table when Nanami quickly pulled her sword from its sheath. She cut a hole right in front of Tazz, the girl falling into it before she could stop herself. Nanami then cut a hole some feet above the first one and soon enough, Tazz came flying through that hole and straight back into the first one. Satisfied with catching Tazz in a continuous loop, Nanami returned her sword to its sheath with another smile.

"That's called payback, Tazz-san," Nanami said as she sat back down at the table.

Securus laughed loudly at the sight before him, "Who knew you had something like that in you, Shiraki!"

"Well, I can't let her get away with what she pulled the other day, Securus-kun," Nanami answered, "Now if you would be so kind, please pour me another glass of sake."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Is she going to be alright?" John asked, watching the young girl flip through the cuts in space.

"I'm going," Tazz shouted, her words being cut off as she fell through the hole again, "To get you…for this…just you wait…oh god…I'm going to…be sick….please make it stop!"

"Apologize properly, Tazz-san, and I'll let you out," Nanami said, sipping from the sake cup that Securus had handed her.

"Sorry…I'm sorry….please let me….out of this thing….dear god…I'm gonna…throw up!

"I suppose that will do," Nanami smiled before snapping her fingers and closing the holes.

Tazz slammed down into the deck, her face green and her eyes swirling. Chris, Lance and Rio quickly ran up to her and grabbed her limp body. They bowed in apology to Nanami before running off.

"Who knew we were going to get a show tonight!" Securus said.

"That was fairly impressive," John added.

"Thank you," Nanami answered with another proud smile.

**. : + : .**

"Looks like the girls are having fun," Jay said, smiling from the table he sat at with Ace, Drayden and Ajax. They watched as Amelia, Aria, Zipporah and Alisa danced not too far from them, having pushed some tables out of the way, "They even got Alisa to join them."

"That's probably more Mia's doing than anything," Ajax answered, "She's usually pretty good at getting people to join her in things like that."

"Yeah, but where'd Hagi go?" Drayden asked, "Isn't he usually with Mia?"

"I thought I saw him daydreaming off somewhere," Jay said, "Something about there being so many romances to start, I think."

"Sounds like him," Ace said.

"I can't help myself when it comes to romance," Hagi said, suddenly appearing at the table with the four men, causing the rest of the table to jump in surprise.

"Where the hell did you come from?!" Ace shouted.

"I'm not really sure," Hagi laughed lightly, scratching the back of his head, "I remember surprising Cordelia and then suddenly I'm here."

"What a weirdo," Ace mumbled, but Hagi didn't seem to pick up on the comment.

"All the girls look lovely tonight, right?" Hagi began, watching the men closely to see if any of them looked interested in any of the women dancing in front of them.

"It's not any different than any other day," Ace answered.

"And with an attitude like that, it won't be any surprise if you end up alone," Hagi retorted, causing Jay, Drayden and Ajax to laugh in response.

Ace rolled his eyes in response while he looked back over to the women. His eyes quickly went wide when he saw Aria handing over a beer to Amelia, "No! Mia! Don't drink it!" he shouted, but the brunette woman didn't hear him over the music.

The rest of the table looked to see what he was yelling about just in time to see Mia finishing off the beer that had been given to her. They all suddenly looked very worried and they all began yelling when Aria handed the woman another drink.

"Aria! You idiot!" Ace shouted loud enough to be heard this time, "You know she's banned from drinking!"

"Stop lookin' so worried!" Aria retorted with a grin, "We're supposed to be havin' fun tonight, right?!"

"Looking and having, dear," Alisa corrected her.

"Whatever," Aria answered, "It's still a celebration and Mia should be able to have a drink!"

"That's right!" Amelia added in, her cheeks already fully flushed. She then hugged Aria tightly, "I should get to drink tonight!"

"Oh no," all five men said, dropping their heads in defeat.

As Amelia continued drinking, she continued hugging the other women around her, being able to practically suffocate Alisa and Zipporah in her cleavage since the two older women were shorter than Aria. She then set her sights on the table full of men and began making her way over to them, swaying her hips as she moved. The women she left behind watched the scene play out with amused stares, Aria even laughing out loud.

"Evening boys," Amelia purred, her mind switching over to flirting mode.

"Evening Mia," they all answered, trying not to make eye contact with her, save for Hagi who had seen this happen more times than he cared to count.

"You all look handsome tonight," she smiled, "Who's going to dance with me tonight?"

"Ajax, you're the oldest," Ace grumbled, "Take responsibility!"

"You're the guild master's brother," Ajax retorted, "So you should take responsibility."

"Is it really that bad?" Jay asked, "I mean, Mia is really pretty."

"Prettier than Cordelia?" Drayden asked, smirking behind his cowl. Jay just looked down to the deck floor in response.

"And yes it's that bad," Ace answered, "Once she gets you, she won't let go for the rest of the night."

"You boys are making me wait an awful long time," Amelia pouted, "And it's getting hot. Maybe I should…"

"Mia! Wait!" Hagi suddenly shouted, knowing what she was about to do.

He was too late though. Amelia was able to pop off her corset top, leaving her in just the strapless bra she wore to cover her top half. Instantly, blood spurted out from the noses of the other four men at the table, knocking them back out of their chairs and onto the ground. Hagi quickly jumped away from them to make sure he wouldn't get any blood on himself while Amelia giggled playfully above them.

"Now, why does that happen every time?" she asked, leaning over to stare down at the men.

Blood poured out all over again at the sight of her chest appearing right in front of them. Thankfully before they died of blood loss, Aria appeared right behind Amelia and dumped a huge bucket of cold water on her. Amelia blinked a few times, trying to figure out what happened and why there were four men passed out on the ground in front of her. She then looked down to see that she no longer had a top on and that she was drench in cold water.

"AHHHHH! HAGI!" she cried, large streams of tears falling down her face as she ran over to the blonde boy, "I did it again!"

"Yes, you did," Hagi answered with a sigh.

"Please fix me up! Please! I can't walk all the way back to my dorm like this!"

"Don't worry," he began, "I'm not going to let you walk around like that. Costume Change: Stylist!" he shouted. His clothes changed so he was now wearing black pants and a white dress shirt with a waistcoat over it. The waistcoat had a plethora of pockets to hold all of his styling supplies and he had a measuring tape draped over his shoulders. He made quick work of giving Amelia a new shirt and hair style. Soon she was wearing a dark red cut off shirt with long sleeves that flared out at the ends of them. He had styled her hair into a side bun with a few long, curly pieces hanging from it, "There we are," he smiled as he released his magic.

"Thank you, Hagi!" she cried again as she hugged him.

He hugged her back and moved her away from the still passed out men, "Come on, you don't want to get blood on you."

"But what about the boys?" she asked.

"They'll be fine. I think you've done enough for them tonight."

Amelia blushed heavily at his comment, "Hagi!" she shouted in embarrassment as they moved away from the area.

**. : + : .**

"They're all a lot of fun to watch, neh Sho?" Haruna asked, looking over to the little maroon cat next to her. The pair sat near one of the food tables watching the other guild members in amusement. Squall sat on the other side of her, deciding to eat with Haruna. Since the two girls were fairly close in age and because Haruna always treated her so nicely, Squall could often be seen hanging around and playing with Haruna. Plus, both girls enjoyed eating all kinds of food, so they tended to make a good pair.

"If you say so," Sho answered, "So long as none of them try to pull anything on you! Drunk mages are worse than sober ones!"

"Not all mages drink to get drunk, I hope you know," a man said, appearing next to the trio that sat on the ground.

They looked up to see Jack and Zhuue smiling down at them. Excitement suddenly hit Squall when she saw Zhuue, the two having made an instant bond when they realized that neither of them could speak. Squall jumped up and latched herself to the blonde's side, causing Jack and Haruna to laugh. Zhuue quickly repaid the hug, swinging the small girl back and forth in her arms happily. The two soon dove into a conversation that Jack and Haruna didn't really understand, the two mutes having their own way of communication between each other.

"So things have been interesting so far?" Jack asked, looking down at Haruna.

"Yeah," she answered, "Everyone's having so much fun! And there's all this amazing food!"

"Good to hear," Jack smiled, "Just don't make yourself sick by eating all that food. You'll end up in the infirmary again with another stomach ache."

"I'll be okay!" she chirped in reply, "But I think you should be more worried about the others."

"Others?"

"Yeah! Looks like they're putting together tables to dance on top of them," she said, pointing over to the middle of the deck. Just as she said, mages were pushing a bunch of tables together in order to create a raised dance floor.

Jack sighed at the sight of it, "I'm sure someone is bound to get hurt. You don't mind if we stick around to watch and make sure nothing bad happens, do you?"

"Not at all!" Haruna answered.

Jack smiled in reply as he managed to find a chair to pull up and watch what was about to happen. He noticed Isaak walking over to the bar that Cordelia had been at and his smile grew, "Well, things should definitely be entertaining at least."

"Sorry for butting in," Isaak began, appearing in the middle of the group that surrounded Cordelia and Ingrid during their drinking contest. It was apparent that Ingrid had lost, the woman having to lean even more against Kasra from the amount of alcohol she had drank. Cordelia also had a flush across her cheeks, but she was still standing and able to talk without slurring, "But I'm stealing our guild master from you," he smiled before grabbing onto Cordelia's hand and pulling her away from the crowd. Zinnia quickly followed them, curious as to what was going on.

"Where are we going?" Cordelia asked with a wide smile.

"Dancing," he answered, showing her the large dancing space that had been created with the tables.

"Ohhh! Looks like fun!" Cordelia and Zinnia said together as they ran up to the edge of the tables.

A hand suddenly appeared in front of Cordelia's face and she looked up to see Jean smiling down at her, "Care if I have the first dance?"

"Sure!" she answered, reaching out to grab his hand.

Though, his hand was quickly pushed out of the way and replaced with Rin's, "I think I'll take the first dance," he grinned, not wasting any time and pulling Cordelia up on top of the tables with him.

"Rin!" Jean shouted.

"Wait your turn, my friend," Rin answered, winking over at him before turning his attention to Cordelia, "Ready?"

"Definitely," she answered with a laugh.

Rin quickly had them in rhythm with the music playing, spinning and dipping Cordelia dramatically along with him. He spun her out far enough for Jean to interrupt them and take over the dance. He continued the dramatic dancing style that Rin had been doing and soon enough, Cordelia found herself constantly being bounced back and forth between the two men. She eventually found herself flat on her back on a table when the two men entered into a sparring match.

"You all right there?" Seth asked, his face suddenly appearing above her.

She could only laugh in response for a moment, not even surprised by Jean's and Rin's antics, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, up you go," he said, easily picking her up and placing her back on her feet. She looked around to see that many other people had joined the dance floor. She was surprised to see the twins dancing, but it was more like Alexander was forcing Alai to move around. Cordelia then laughed when she saw Matilda laughing loudly with a cup of coffee she had in her hands that she was sure was spiked for the night. Next to her was an exhausted looking Sam, Matilda periodically swinging the poor boy around before bringing him back to dance with her again. Many other mages filled the table tops and were dancing around and drinking.

Cordelia then looked up at Seth with a grin, "Let's dance!" she shouted, pulling the large man along with her into the middle of the dance floor. She noticed that he was less dramatic than Jean and Rin had been and much more gentle in his approach with her, which she supposed made sense for the man's personality. And so long as she didn't end up falling again, she didn't mind the pace.

"So where did Gamu go?" she asked.

"I'm not really sure," he answered, "He was with us for a while before he eventually wandered off. I'm sure he'll pop up again here soon," he said, earning a nod from the woman, "By the way, I never got to congratulate you for becoming the new guild master."

"That's because it was Eli's fault!"

"You still haven't forgiven him?"

"Well…I'm not mad anymore if that's what you mean."

"You know how he is when it comes to apologizing," Seth smiled, "Maybe you would take an apology from me for him?"

"Hell no!"

"I didn't think so," he laughed, "But just cut the poor guy some slack. This party was his idea, after all."

"Really?"

"Well, I might have come up with a few things to help him out, but he was the one to say we should have a party for you."

Cordelia was quiet for a moment before Zinnia suddenly interrupted the two of them and pulled Cordelia away from Seth, "No frowning during your own party!" she grinned. She began dancing with Cordelia, leading the guild master into the tango with her. A smile split across Cordelia's face again and both women could hear Seth laughing in the background.

The two women danced together for a while without interruptions, but Zinnia had a feeling it wouldn't last, her feeling being proven right when Isaak showed up behind them with a smile across his face.

"Mind if I cut in?"

"I'm sure you'll do it anyways," Zinnia answered as she moved away from Cordelia to find a new dancing partner.

Isaak easily took up Zinnia's place and soon had the two of them dancing rather formally compared to the people around them, "Been having fun tonight?"

"Yeah! It's great that everyone put a party together like this!" Cordelia answered, "I think it was something that everyone needed."

"I think you're right," he said, "I think it was time for everyone to let loose for a bit. And I think a guild master like you was worth celebrating over," he continued, causing Cordelia to blush lightly, "I already know you're going to become great and do great things. I'll be looking forward to seeing this dream of yours play out."

"Marzell!" Eli shouted, interrupting the small moment that had been created, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm simply dancing with our new guild master. Is that such a problem with you?" he asked with a smile.

"Damn straight it is!"

"Is that so?" he said, spinning Cordelia out and letting her go so she was twirled right into Eli. She smacked gently into the man's chest as Isaak added, "Why don't you dance with her then?"

Eli looked down at Cordelia, surprised that she wasn't yelling at him again. She simply stood there, waiting for him to make the next move. Just as he began to reach out for her, the entire table dance floor creaked loudly. Suddenly, everyone on the tables dropped to the floor along with the top half of the tables, landing in a giant, tangled mess. A few of them managed to look up to see Kato in front of the fallen mess and assumed he had something to do with it.

"KATO!" they all shouted as many of them began running after him.

"I didn't do anything!" he shouted back as he took off at full speed.

At a table across from the mess sat Vi and Mac. Vi looked down at the woman next to her and let an unusual, small smile appeared on her lips, "That was a pretty good one."

"I thought so," Mac snickered next to her, having used her Wood Make Magic to cause the tables to fall over like they did, "Gotta keep them on their toes."

**. : + : .**

Cordelia sat at the front of the middle ship, hearing the party going on behind her still. She had managed to pull herself away from all the chaos to have a quiet moment for the night as she stared up at all the bright stars. She also needed a moment to cool off, the alcohol running through her system having her overheated along with all the dancing she had been doing. She took in a deep breath and let the ocean breeze wash over her just as she heard someone approaching her. She looked next to her to see Eli plopping down on the deck floor beside her.

"What are you doing all the way out here by yourself?" he asked.

"I just wanted to step away for a moment and cool off. It's always nice out here at night time."

"Yeah, I suppose it is," he said, looking up at the stars along with her. A moment of silence passed between them before Eli started talking again, "You know that I'm happy to see you as the guild master, right?"

Cordelia was quiet for a moment as she pulled her focus away from the stars to look over at him, "I know. That's not why I got so mad though."

Eli thought back to their argument the previous day and leafed through all the things he said that could have set her off. He then remembered her storming off after laughing at her about not being able to take missions with her anymore. He twitched at the thought of it, finally realizing how he had really sounded when he had said it, "Sorry, ya know, for laughing like that. It really is gonna be weird not being able to take missions with you anymore."

Cordelia stared over at him for another long moment and once she decided he was being sincere in what he said, she smiled at him, "You're forgiven," she said, moving in to hug him, "You did go and throw this party for me, after all."

"Yeah, well, I had to make it up to you somehow," he said, hugging her back with one arm, "I hope you've been enjoying it."

"I have been. Parties are lots of fun."

Both Eli and Cordelia froze when they heard that answer, the response not coming from either of them. They looked up to see Gamu perched in front of them with another smile on his face. Cordelia and Eli both screamed in response, having no idea where the man came from.

"Gamu!" they both shouted.

He smiled again as he began to answer them, "I came to bring you back…to…" he drifted off, beginning to play with pieces of Cordelia's hair again, causing the other two to sigh in response.

"Let's go back to the party," Eli said, picking up Gamu to make sure he came with them. He was slung over a shoulder while the man continued to play with Cordelia's hair.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

This chapter was loads of fun for me! So I really do hope you all enjoyed it too! And that is the last chapter for the Introduction Arc! So now we get to jump into the next arc - Treasure Hunt! Soooo excited for it too!

And we have more pictures up! Ace, Gordon, Squall and Nanami have been added to my profile! Once again, another huge thank you to XLil MEkoX for making them!

Hmm, I don't think there's much else to say this time around. So I'll jump right into the reviews!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! And oh man! We've already hit over 100 reviews! Holy crap! You guys are amazing!

**Origm2012 - **Haha! Yep! Cordelia is always prepared for any situation, even if that situation calls for a squirt gun! And I'm glad that Seth is turning out so well for you! And yeah, I do believe he is the tallest. Sometimes those chapter titles take a while for me to figure out. Often times, I actually have to write out a chapter before I title them. But I'm glad you liked the twins and I thought they were rather interesting myself. And I really have way too much fun writing Eli and Cordelia! It's just so easy and fun to write them together. And I'm glad you liked Cordelia's mom and Gamu too! And those updates you made to your own stories were great! So thanks for those chapters! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **LOL! Part of me feels like I should respond in puns, but I'm afraid that might start another whole thread of them! But I'm glad you enjoyed the moments between Cordelia and Eli. And the poor guy does get a hard time from both Isaak and Cordelia…mostly because she was mad at him. And yeah, Cordelia was able to easily get Regina on her side, although, that's only because she got to her first. Things probably would have gone much differently if Eli would have been the first to complain to her. But I'm glad you enjoyed all the other characters as well! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Well I'm glad you like all those characters so much. And I don't think it's bad of you to pick Devin either, lol. But I'm glad that you liked Regina and the twins! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter so much! And that you like the Murdock family. And I ended up checking out those songs and I could see why you thought that Buck Thieves fit Storm's Helm so well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **I have to wonder about damaged boats too, lol. I'm sure they've had to lose a good amount of them so far. And yeah, poor Alisa having that grammar habit. I'm surprised she hasn't lost it already, lol. And yeah, the twins haven't really gotten to know Cordelia, so I'll get to build on that during the story, which should be fun. LOL, yep! Cordelia will never have a problem with going to her mom like that no matter how old she is! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **Glad you enjoyed the family moments in that last chapter! And yes! Definitely! When I start to need villains, I will let you know! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Haha, yeah, partying in a giant fleet of ships in the middle of the ocean with mages could always end horribly. But I hope you enjoyed how the party turned out!

**XLil MEkoX - **CHA! Thanks for the cookie for finishing the introductions! And the character visuals are turning out so awesome! And short manga strips?! You just love making my day! And I'm glad you enjoyed Zipporah's intro! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **LOL, I'm glad you love Gamu so much! He's totally adorable in my mind, so I'm glad he came out that way. And I'm glad I finished the introductions as well! Now we can really get into some pretty awesome stuff! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **I'm glad that the character interactions have been turning out so well for you! That's something I do worry about, so it's always good to hear that you guys are liking the characters and how they act with each other. And I'm glad you enjoyed that little scene with Securus putting the sign up. And we'll eventually get to see those intense action scenes! I have the next three arcs planned out…well at least outlined, so we'll get to see some pretty awesome stuff soon! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **YOSH! Party time! I really hope you enjoyed all the scenes for the party. I'm sure that more parties will come and more chaotic things will happen during them since no one sunk a ship this time around, lol. But I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter. And I laughed when I pictured the twins doing the fusion dance from DBZ. But I don't think it'll look like that, lol. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Yeah, I figured a party would be a good way to end the introduction arc. And no worries, there will always be plenty of food for Haruna to get into! And I'm glad that you liked Gamu so much! As well as Regina! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**RansomeNote - **Glad you liked the last chapter! And I'm really happy to hear that Alisa turned out so well for you! And I'm excited to get more into the plot as well! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Raiyane - **I'm glad to see you're enjoying Storm's Helm! And no worries on when you get to read things! I know how busy real life can get! But I'm glad that you like the way the guild is set up as well as Hagi and Squall. And that rivalry between Cordelia and Ingrid is super fun for me too! And I'm glad you enjoyed Tazz's character too. She's quite the pistol! And I'm glad that you liked that crush that Jay has on Cordelia! And no worries on the length of the reviews either. I'm just happy to see you checking my stories out! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Glad to hear that Aria turned out the way you pictured her! And I'm glad you liked the Murdock family! They're always fun for me to write! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**AkumaXHwaorang - **No worries on when you send a review in. I totally understand! But I'm glad that Gamu turned out so well for you! He's super fun for me to write and I'm really happy you sent him in! And I'm glad you're enjoying the fight scenes! And yeah, trying to make memorable characters can be a rather hard feat, but I'm ready for the challenge! But I'm glad to hear you have favorite characters so far! And I'm glad you're enjoying the interactions between Eli and Cordelia so far! And I'm also glad to hear that you're hooked on the story now! CHA! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! Yep, Eli and Cordelia are definitely childish when it comes to their fighting, but it suits them so well! And I'm glad you enjoyed Regina's character as well! And I'm glad you liked the interaction between Aria and Alisa. And yeah, poor Zipporah being added into the middle of them. And Gamu is definitely interesting, so it makes it pretty fun to write him! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

So that should be it for this chapter!

I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	9. An Empty Vault

**A/N: **YOSH! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 9: An Empty Vault**

**April 7, X792 - Morning**

"Good morning you two!" Cordelia smiled widely as she made her way into the navigation cabin on the front ship.

"Morning Cordelia!" Matilda answered cheerfully, almost knocking over her cup of coffee from turning to look at the guild master. Luckily, Sam had been there to hold down the mug, even if a bit of the hot coffee sloshed up onto his fingers, "How did you sleep? You need some coffee? Are we going to figure out where to go today?"

"Morning," Sam said quietly while Matilda continued to spit out question after question. He shook his hand a few times from the coffee hitting them before Cordelia passed a napkin over to him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Cordelia answered, the two of them still ignoring a jabbering Matilda for the moment, "How have things been this morning?"

Sam wore a flat look on his face as he turned to stare at Matilda, "How do you deal with it?" he asked, watching as the navigator acted out something from the party a couple days ago.

"Uhhh…good question," Cordelia answered with a nervous laugh, "I suppose by letting her have all the coffee she wants…?"

"Do you really think that adding coffee into the mix is really doing any good?"

"Have you seen her when she hasn't had any?"

"No. Is it that bad?"

A sudden chill came over the two as Matilda slinked up behind them. A black aura covered her as her bangs fell over her eyes, her hands trembling upwards to grip either of their shoulders, "No caffeine and all work makes Matilda a dreadful monster," she said in a low and dark voice. The other two were frozen in their place, afraid to make a move for the moment. Though, the air quickly cleared and Matilda was smiling widely again, "But we have plenty of coffee, so there's no need to worry about that right now!"

Cordelia and Sam sighed in relief as the woman let them go and moved off to where she had been sitting previously. Cordelia fixed her coat back into place before looking over at Sam. She was about to say something to him, but the bags under his eyes caught her attention first. She stared at sight of the tired boy in front of her and frowned, "Sam, have you been sleeping okay?"

Sam looked up, surprised by the question. Even Matilda stopped her antics to look over at the two when she heard the question. Now that she had taken the time to really look at Sam, she realized how tired he looked.

"I…I've just been up late…working on things for my new position," Sam answered quietly, looking down at the deck.

Cordelia and Matilda were quiet at the answer. Matilda looked over to the guild master to see an oddly serious look on her face as she studied Sam. It was almost as if she could tell that the boy was lying, but Matilda had thought the answer made sense to her. She was often up for long periods of time herself before crashing out.

Cordelia turned fully to face Sam, her arms cross in front of her as she narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her. Sam was still looking down at the wooden floor, and from the look on his face, Cordelia could tell that he was hoping she would drop the subject. While she wasn't sure about the reason behind it, she knew that he was lying. It wasn't that hard to tell. But still, there was no use forcing him to answer honestly, not so early into their new positions and friendship. Eventually, she sighed and dropped her stance, her arms falling to her sides.

"I appreciate you working so hard already," Cordelia began, "But I don't want you pushing yourself like this. You'll be no use to me if you don't get rest so you can be at the top of your game."

"I understand," Sam answered, "But you don't need to worry about me."

"Don't be stupid," she smiled widely, "Of course I have to worry about you. I'm the guild master, so that means I need to take care of everyone and worry about them all the time. It's in the job description," she explained, setting a hand on top of his head while still smiling at him, "You're my family, so I get to worry about you like family. And that also means you can come to me with any problems. Remember that, yeah?"

"Yeah," he answered, staring at her smiling face with surprise in his eyes again. That warm feeling that belonged to real families had caught him off guard. He didn't know what else to do or say other than the response he had given her. If he had been a more excitable person, he felt he might have given her a hug for her words, but instead, all he could do was stand there in silence. Though, it didn't seem like Cordelia minded his reaction much, considering she was still smiling at him. Plus, Matilda was able to interrupt the scene and save him from having to say anything else.

"Such a beautiful speech!" Matilda cried as she launched herself onto Cordelia, hugging her tightly and nuzzling her face against the guild master's, "Does that mean I'm your family too?! Please say I'm your family, you won't regret it, I want to be a part of the family too! You're already becoming such a wonderful guild master, just like Duke, when's he coming back?! I want to show him off to you and I-"

"All right! I get it!" Cordelia shouted, trying to pull the woman off of her, but only succeeding in knocking the two of them to the floor, "You're my family! You're my family! Just let me go!" she cried while desperately trying to crawl away from the woman.

Sam could only stare down at the pair with a sweat drop rolling down his forehead.

"Yo! Cordi!" Ace shouted, suddenly appearing in the doorway of the cabin, his feet stopping right in front of the pair on the floor. He saw Sam first and then looked down to see what he was staring at, "Huh? What the hell is going on here?"

"Ace," Cordelia cried, streams of tears falling down her cheeks as she grabbed onto one of his ankles, "Save me!"

"How can you call yourself the guild master when you can't even get away from a single mage?" he asked. Though, he still grabbed onto her arms and yanked her free from Matilda.

"Thank you!" she said as she hugged him in thanks.

"You're such a weirdo, Cordi," he mumbled, but still patted her head in return.

"So mean!" she cried again, "What happened to my baby brother?! You used to be so cute too!"

"GAH! So annoying! Don't say embarrassing things like that!" he shouted in return, "I only came up here to get you to check out the storage ship!"

"Ah! That's right! I need to check on the supplies!"

"And somehow I'm the stupid one."

"You are the stupid one when you thought that barrel was a giant pineapple and you tried to eat it," she huffed as she walked out of the cabin.

"I was six! And you were the one that painted it to look like a pineapple!" he shouted in return as he followed her, "You even had Eli tell me that it was real!"

"You shouldn't have trusted him."

"He was eating pineapple while he told me! What else was I supposed to think?!"

The duo continued arguing as they made their way off of the front boat and to the ship right behind it where all the supplies were kept.

"Then explain the Tarzan incident that happened a month ago," Cordelia huffed as she walked down into the lower decks of the ship.

"You still won't let that go?! That was a whole month ago!"

"Still, it didn't help your reputation any."

"Hey! At least I'm not known as a prick like Gordon."

"I'll give you that," she answered, as she began looking around at everything they had in stock, "You brought a pen and paper to write stuff down with, right?"

"Yeah," he said, pulling out the writing utensils he had made sure to grab that morning.

"Looks like we need to stock up on food supplies for sure," she began, "That party wiped us out a bit," she said, beginning to list off different food supplies that they would need to stock up on as she looked through crates and barrels and even in the refrigerated section of the boat. For a half hour, the two went through everything they would need to restock the guild with and how much to get when they stopped in port. It was easy to complete this task with her brother, considering they had both lived in the guild all their lives and knew exactly how much to get for everyone and how long it would last until the next stop.

"This looks about right," Ace said as shoved the pen and paper back into his pocket, "We have enough money to get all this stuff, right?"

"Yeah, we should," Cordelia answered as she walked up to a sealed, metal door. It had a hand print on the front of it where the guild master was to press their hand in order to unlock it, "Earlier this morning, dad registered the lock on the treasure vault to read my hand print as the new guild master," she explained as she placed her hand on the large print, "There should be enough money in here to pay for the things we need. Although, depending on how much is in here, we may need to do a few jobs in order to replenish the vault."

"Sounds good to me," Ace answered, "It's been a little boring around here lately if you ask me."

"Well, we shouldn't need too big of a job to fill it up if I remember what it looks like from the days that Duke and dad ran this place," she said, hearing the door unlock. She pushed it open, expecting to see large piles of gold and jewels. Though, only an empty room with dust balls rolling across the floor appeared before them, causing both of their jaws to smack to the floor in response.

"What the hell?!" Ace shouted, being the first to recover from the shock, "Where the hell is all the treasure?!"

Cordelia felt her whole body twitch in anger, fire suddenly exploding around her, "GORDON!" she roared before busting out of the vault at top speed to go hunt down the former guild master.

"That guy's a dead man for sure," Ace said as he ran after his sister to watch the showdown.

**. : + : .**

Ace had managed to find the fight on the boy's dorm ship just in time to see Cordelia slam Gordon down onto the deck.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Gordon shouted, a crowd already beginning to form around them.

"What the hell is my problem?!" Cordelia returned his shout, pinning him down to the deck, "Your complete lack of responsibility and care for this guild is my problem!"

"I didn't even do anything!"

"And that's the problem! You didn't do anything for three years!"

"What's going on?" Jay asked as he and Drayden came to stand next to Ace.

"She opened the vault to make sure we had enough money to pay for supplies at our next stop," Ace answered, "And when she opened the door, there was nothing in it."

"Seriously?!" Jay shouted in response.

"So basically, he's about to die," Drayden added, earning a nod from Ace.

"What did you even become guild master for?!" Cordelia continued to shout, "Because you sure as hell made sure not to do anything with that title once you had it!"

"What does it matter now?! You're the master now!"

"It matters because I have a whole guild to feed and keep healthy out in the middle of the ocean and I don't have the damn money to pay for it! Why is the vault empty?!"

Gordon looked shocked for a moment before looking away from her.

"Hell no! You don't get to get out of this one!" she yelled as she grabbed onto his hair to make him look at her, "Where's all of the guild's money, Gordon?!"

He stayed quiet, too embarrassed to answer her in front of everyone.

"Answer me! I swear! You better answer me before I start smashing that clunk of metal you have for a head into the deck!"

"I spent it, okay?! I had to spend it to keep the guild fed!" he finally shouted in response.

"What?! In three years, you wasted away all that money?! Why didn't you replenish it with jobs?!"

"I didn't know how! Is that what you want me to say?!" he yelled, bringing everyone into a silence, "I got the master position and I didn't know what I was doing," he said in a lower voice, "So I had to use that money to make sure everyone stayed fed and everything."

Cordelia clenched her teeth in anger as she stared down at the man under her, but she managed to keep herself from lashing out again at him. At least he had admitted that he didn't know what he was doing during his time as master, "All you had to do was ask for help. That's the first mission I'm giving you as you're new master. Learn how to swallow that pride of yours and ask for help."

"Tch, I don't need to do that now that I'm not the master anymore," he grunted in reply.

"Everyone needs help at some point, Gordon," Cordelia retorted, her tone almost sounding sad at the man's response.

"Yeah, well, not me. Now get off. You've humiliated me twice in one week. Isn't that enough for you?"

Cordelia didn't say anything further as she got up off of the man. He quickly got up and walked away, people jumping out of his way as he moved to go down into his dorm. Things were quiet for a moment before Jay approached Cordelia, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

Cordelia suddenly turned around to the face the crowd with a bright smile, "Yeah, of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be?"

"But Cordelia…what about the money and Gordon?" Jay continued, knowing just as well as Ace and Drayden that she was forcing the smile.

"Don't worry! I'll get everything figured out before we get into port! Things are just fine, so no worrying about it, okay?"

"Yeah…okay," he answered.

"Good! Now, I've got to go let my navigator know which port we need to head into, so be ready to enjoy some time on land soon!" she said, continuing to smile as she made her way back towards the front ship.

"She's faking it," Drayden mentioned once she was gone from sight.

"Completely," Ace agreed, "But it's her way of making sure the rest of the guild doesn't panic."

"I don't think that's healthy," Jay mumbled before he walked off to the middle ship with the other two men.

**. : + : .**

Cordelia sat at her desk with her head down on it. She had already told Matilda to head towards the closest port on the northwestern shores of Fiore since they were so close to it now. She was sure that in just another few hours they would be there. She had then disappeared down into her office to try and figure out how to pay for the supplies they were to get, but she had yet to think of anything at all. And while she had told Gordon to swallow his own pride, there was no way she was going to start asking her guild members to give her any of their personal money.

"This would be easier if we could go on a treasure hunt first," she sighed into the table, "But even then, I don't know where to look at the moment or even how everyone will work together. What the hell am I supposed to do?" At that question, her office door opened and quietly shut, causing her to peek up to see who had entered. She was surprised to see her dad standing before with the usual stoic look on his face, "Dad?" she questioned, her eyebrow quirking upwards when she saw something large tucked under his arm.

"Morning," Finn answered as he made his way over to her desk. He then pulled out the object he was holding and set it in front of her, "Here."

Cordelia's eyes went wide upon seeing the large treasure chest that had been set down before her. She looked up at her dad and then back down to the chest, finally popping open the top. She was once again surprised by the amount of money that was stored in it, "Dad…I can't take this. This is money you've been saving up."

"Seems like the right time to be using it then," he answered as he sat down in one of the seats across from her desk, "Ace told me about the empty vault."

"I don't want to take your personal savings."

"Then what do you plan to do in order to buy supplies?" he asked, Cordelia staying quiet since she had no answer for him, "Your mom and I have more saved up, so you don't need to worry about that."

"But…I didn't do anything to earn this."

"Cordelia," he began, catching his daughter's full attention, "I am giving you this money. Let's call it a gift for becoming the new guild master if it bothers you that much. You stepped into a new, important role without having everything you need, so learn how to accept these things when they are given to you," he said, earning a nod from Cordelia, "Besides, I'm your father and I still reserve the right to take care of you when you need it."

"Thank you," she said quietly as she shut the lid to the chest and slid it under her desk, "Dad…did you ever feel overwhelmed when you were master? Did you have problems like these?"

"All the time," he answered, "Especially when I first started. Everything was a giant mess when I took over and it took me a while to get things in order. I thought about giving up a few times too. Everyone was so troublesome and caused me headaches everyday."

Cordelia smacked her head back against her desk upon hearing his answer, "How did you deal with it then?"

She heard him chuckle softly before he answered, "That one is actually easy to answer. I simply remembered to love them. You love your guild…your family, and things will fall into place. You show them love and they will love you back. Once you have that love, Cordelia, then you have the world."

"Do you think I can have the world?"

Finn was quiet as he stood up from his chair. He came to a stop right next to Cordelia and laid a hand on top of her head, "I believe that one day you'll have the world ten times over. I have faith in your love and what you're willing to do for your guild. And I'll smile in pride when you surpass me…and you will surpass me one day. Just keep moving forward even when you think you can't go any further."

After finishing his words and figuring that Cordelia would be all right for the time being, Finn began to make his way out of the office. Though, he managed to hear an 'I love you too' before exiting the room, causing him to smile softly.

**. : + : .**

Just as Cordelia had thought, the guild came rolling into one of the ports on the northwestern shores of Fiore. Due to the large size of the guild, most of it stuck far out from the docks, only the front ship and one of the front corner ships being able to touch the docks, but it was enough room for people to walk off the guild and to bring supplies onto it. Cordelia had a few of the men drop the anchors as well as tying the guild to the docks to keep it in place.

"All right!" Cordelia called out to the guild before she let them free, "We'll only be staying here for a couple days, so don't be late returning to the guild if you choose to stay on land. You are free to do as you please, but I do need some volunteers to help buy supplies and load it onto the docks this afternoon. So those of you that wish to help out with that, stay behind for the moment so we can sort out who will be picking up what in town. Otherwise, you all are free to do as you please until we head back out to sea."

Most of the guild began to disappear into town after her instructions, wave after wave of people exiting off the ships. They ignored the stares they received from the people that lived in the town, having become used to them over the years. Once everyone had left for town or had disappeared back into their dorms, a small group stood in front of Cordelia, consisting of John, Securus, Seth, Eli, Ace, Jay, Aria, Nanami and Vi.

"Thanks for staying behind to help out," Cordelia said with a smile, "You've got that list from earlier, Ace?"

"Yeah, but how are we gonna pay for everything?" he answered, pulling out the list they had made earlier.

"I've got it covered," she replied, "So no worries there," she added, pushing the treasure chest from earlier in the middle of the group, "Once we figure out who's getting what, we'll split up the money to make sure everyone has enough to cover the cost of things," she explained, everyone staring down at the money with surprised looks. Though, they kept their comments to themselves about where the money had come from, happy just to have the funds to pay for supplies, "Now, we do need to stock up on ammo, weapons and metal supplies. I'll leave that to you Vi since you know what to look for and how much things should really cost for those types of supplies," Cordelia began, handing over a smaller paper to the woman, "Although, here's a basic list of things that we should probably get the most of, but I trust you in knowing what to get and what not to get."

Vi glanced over the list given to her before nodding her head at her, "Seems easy enough. Consider it done already."

"Good. And John, I want you to go with her to help carry the supplies back here."

"No problem," he answered.

"All right then, you two can go on ahead while we figure out how to break the rest of the list up."

The two nodded at her and took the money she handed them before walking off of the guild. Cordelia turned back to the rest of the group, glancing at the list Ace had written earlier while puzzling in who would be best suited to get certain supplies.

"I want Seth and Eli to get water and other drinks since you two should have the easiest time carrying all those barrels back here. And don't try to buy everything at once again!" she said quickly and loudly, "Buy the water first and then bring it back here. Then go get the wine and so on and so forth. I don't want to have another batch of wasted liquor because you thought you could carry it all at once!"

"Okay, okay, geez," Eli grumbled in response, "We'll do them one at a time."

"You better," Cordelia said, eyeing the two men for a moment, "All right then, I want Shiraki and Securus to get dry food supplies. Here's a list of the things we need for them," she said, handing over a paper to Nanami, "And don't try hustling people in town to carry the supplies back this time, Securus!"

"But it's just so easy to get them to do it," he grinned.

"Don't worry, Cordelia-san," Nanami said when she saw the woman's eye twitch, "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything like that."

"Thank you," she replied, "Jay and Aria, I want you two to get the cold foods," she said, handing Jay the paper of the needed refrigerated foods, "And don't eat any of it on your way back to the guild either!"

"What the hell?!" Aria shouted, "You can't just guess that's what we're gonna do!"

"I'm not guessing! I know!" Cordelia retorted, "You better keep her in line, Jay!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"All right, off you all go then!"

"What about you and Ace?" Jay asked.

"We'll be waiting for you here to help load everything on the ship, but there's something I need to run out and get first in the mean time," Cordelia answered, "And Ace will be coming with me."

"What?! The hell I am!" Ace shouted, "You know that neither of us can step on dry land!"

"I'm not letting that issue stop me from getting what I need!" she shouted, "But I'm not gonna die alone either!"

"You're the worst sister ever!" Ace yelled as Cordelia looped her arm through his and pulled him off of the boat and onto the dock. The money had been split up evenly through everyone and Cordelia had managed to even grab some for herself for what she wanted to buy, "You're not making me step on land!" he continued, desperately trying to pull away from her and back to the guild.

"You're coming with me and that's final!" she said.

Though, she quickly came to a stop where the deck ended and dry land began. The two gulped loudly as they stared at the ground before them. Cordelia finally lifted one leg up and moved it forward, forcing Ace to do the same. As soon as their feet touched the land, they instantly face planted into the ground, a sickly green color covering their face. The group behind them only sighed in response, having already known that was going to happen.

"I'm gonna die!" Ace groaned, "This is why Ingrid and Lance stayed on the boat!"

"I don't think their cases of land sickness is anywhere near either of yours," Eli said as he approached the pair, "Look, whatever you need to get, Cor, probably isn't worth all this fuss. Just give me the money and tell me what you were going to buy."

"No! I want to get it myself! I'm an adult! I can do it!" she answered, trying to pull herself across the ground.

"You're only gonna make yourself sick and I'm not gonna be the one to clean it up!" Eli retorted, "Just go back to the boat! Or at least on the docks!"

"No!"

"You're always so stubborn!" Eli growled, "The rest of you go on ahead. Seth and I will take care of these two," he said to the rest of the group, rolling Ace and Cordelia to make enough room for them to walk through.

"Good luck," Securus chuckled as he quickly followed everyone else into town.

"Yeah, thanks," he grunted in reply. He then turned to look back at Seth, "I'll take Ace back to the guild since she really had no point in bringing him this far. Try and see if you can reason with her in the mean time."

"I'll try, but I doubt it will do anything," Seth smiled as he walked over to Cordelia. He bent down to lean on the balls of his feet near her, "I think you should go back onto the boat. You don't want to get sick, do you?"

"No, but what I need to buy is very important!"

"Can't you just let us buy it instead?"

"I want to buy it myself!"

"What is it you need to buy anyways?"

"I want to go to the music store and get Devin a new pair of headphones since his got ruined in that fight," she said before another wave of nausea hit her. She groaned as she rolled onto her back to finally look up at Seth. She threw her hands up towards him, "Carry me there?"

"Well, I can't really say no now that I know what you want to buy," he grinned, "But how do you expect me to carry those barrels back while also carrying you?"

She dropped her arms back to the ground while large streams of tears began to fall down her cheeks, "I…I…I just want to buy Devin some new headphones!"

"Geez, you're still such a bratty kid," Eli suddenly said. Though, he quickly lifted her up and heaved her onto his back. Her arms hung over his shoulders while he held her up by her legs, "You better not get sick on me," he mumbled.

"So warm," she said, knowing he was using his Fire Magic to heat his body up enough to get her to relax and fall asleep. She snuggled up against his back and was asleep within minutes.

"She seems comfortable," Seth mentioned with a laugh.

"Tch, she never learns. Always causing trouble like this," Eli grumbled as he began walking into town.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't seem like you mind either," Seth said, following him, "You are carrying her into town instead of putting her back on the ship like Ace, after all."

"I'm only doing this so she doesn't throw a fit later," he retorted.

Though, he refused to look Seth in the eye when he said it, causing the older man to laugh loudly in reply, "Whatever you say! I suppose we should look for the music store first then?"

"Sure, whatever," he answered lowly, still not looking up at Seth, which only caused the man to laugh louder.

**. : + : .**

John and Vi quietly and quickly made their way through town. Vi had made stops at this port before, so she knew exactly where she was going. She was glad that Cordelia had paired John up with her since the man tended to be on the more quiet side and he was able to keep up with her so far without any problems. He also seemed like a hard worker and she respected that. Plus, she was happy to have someone around that could help her carry back the heavy supplies that they would be buying.

"You sure know your way through town," John commented as he watched her weave around people with ease.

"Been here before," was all she answered with.

John didn't seem to mind her short answer as he continued to follow her until they both stood outside of a weapons shop. He watched as Vi scanned over the things on the list before she nodded her head.

"We should be able to get everything here," she said to him, "I also have a good relationship with the owner, so we should get a good deal."

John simply nodded in reply before they stepped into the shop.

"Welcome!" a man's voice boomed out from the front counter. A middle aged man smiled at them as he turned to look at them, "What can I do for…" he began before suddenly stopping when his eyes fell on Vi. Sweat quickly began to pour down his body before he shouted loudly, "It's you! Take whatever you want! You don't even need to pay! Here! I'll pack everything up for you even!"

As the man continued shouting, he threw all kinds of weapons, ammo and metal materials into large boxes. John wasn't sure what exactly happened, but he suddenly found himself standing back outside of the shop, holding three large boxes while Vi held two.

"I…uh…I mean…well…what the hell just happened?!"

"I told you I had a good relationship with him," Vi answered, beginning the walk back to the ship.

"Whatever just happened doesn't account for a good relationship!" John called after her, "What did you do to that guy?"

"He asked me one day if I knew how to properly use a gun, so I simply answered him by telling him a hundred different ways that you could shoot a gun and hit a person and where it would hit the person at. He didn't seem to believe me since he didn't say anything, so I proved it to him by shooting one of the guns in his store."

"You shot him?!"

"No, he ducked," she said bluntly.

John only sweat dropped in response, "I think his initial question was meant as a joke."

"Why would someone joke about knowing how to use a gun? He asked a question, so I simply answered it."

"We may need to work on your social skills some."

"I don't see the problem. He seemed to like me enough after that since he gives me things whenever I stop by his shop. Cordelia likes the deal too."

"Of course she would," John mumbled, "Still, I think you should learn when someone is joking and when someone isn't."

"Only if it's given to me as work to complete," she answered, stopping to look over at John expectantly as if waiting for him to laugh.

John just stared flatly at her, "Learning a joke shouldn't be work."

"And I was making a joke myself. Maybe you're the one that needs to learn how to be funny," she said before she started walking again.

"You're not supposed to have a straight face when you crack a joke!"

"Cracking a joke is physically impossible as a joke isn't an object. You tell a joke."

"It's just a phrase!"

"That was another joke, John."

"You're really bad at this!"

**. : + : .**

"Aria! Stop trying to eat the food!" Jay shouted from behind the tall girl, making sure to keep a better eye on her this way.

"Stop being a party pooper!" she replied, but shoved away what she was about to snack on nonetheless.

"It's a good thing that Cordelia didn't send Haruna or Squall with you or else you would be bringing nothing back with you."

"You're only tryin' to show off in front of Cordelia," Aria smirked.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he shouted with a blush, "Now get moving!"

"I wonder where Cordelia got all that money from anyways. I heard that the vault was empty," Aria mentioned as they made their way through the crowd of the town, "Ohhh! What if she had to sell her body for that money?! We just paid for the guild's food with dirty cash!" she said, her smirk widening into a devious smile.

"Cordelia would never do that!" Jay yelled in reply, "What a horrible thing to imply about your own guild master!"

"Haha! But it's so fun getting' you all worked up like that!" she laughed loudly, "You're too easy of a target, Jay! Even Miss Proper Alisa puts up a better fight than you!"

"If you want a fight, then I'll spar with you when we get back to the guild, but in the mean time, stop trashing Cordelia's good name!"

"Sword against sword?" Aria wondered for a moment, "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've fought against you yet. But I'm sure you'll be pretty easy to beat."

"Don't underestimate me! Besides training on my own, I've been training with Ace too."

"Psh, like that's somethin' to be proud of," she snickered, "I can beat Ace!"

"I haven't seen you do it yet," Jay replied, now being the one to smirk, "Ace may not be the brightest bulb in the guild, but he's wicked awesome with a sword. And unlike you, he uses two at a time."

"I can use two at a time!"

"Not very well. Maybe you should take some lessons from Ace."

A vein ticked on Aria's forehead from Jay's comments, causing her to eventually drop the food and pull out her sword from its sheath, "Let's show him how it's done, Hiryu!" she shouted, igniting the katana blade in flames. She slashed the sword forwards in a hard arc, sending a fireball off the tip of the blade. Jay easily dodged the fireball and the two watched as it flew into a building, exploding on impact. They stared the destroyed building with wide eyes before Aria shoved the sword back into its sheath and picked up the dropped food, "RUN!" she shouted before taking off at top speed back towards the guild.

"What the hell?!" a man shouted, appearing out of the burning hole of the building with a still sizzling mustache. He narrowed his eyes at Jay, who flinched in response to the glare aimed at him.

Jay laughed nervously before he eventually flung the rest of the money Cordelia had given him for the food at the man, "Sorry about that!" he shouted back towards the man as he ran from the area much like Aria had.

**. : + : .**

Nanami looked up when she heard a loud explosion go off from the other side of town. She had just finished paying for the flour that was on the list, which happened to be the last item they needed to get. She sighed lightly, knowing that the cause of the explosion was sure to be one of her guildmates.

"Sounds like someone is having fun," Securus chuckled from next to her, his teeth chomped down on a cigarette.

"It's probably Aria-san too," Nanami said before thanking the shop owner they had bought the flour from, "Pick up a bag please, Securus-kun."

"You've got it, Shiraki," he said, picking up one of the two giant flour bags and throwing it over his shoulder. Nanami picked up the other bag and soon the two were making their way back towards the guild.

"I'm surprised you volunteered to help out today," Nanami commented, "Normally, you just relax around the guild when we're in port."

"Stop trying to be nice and just call me lazy, Shiraki," Securus said, managing to blow smoke out of his mouth without removing the cigarette, considering that both of his hands were full, "But I figured it would be good to help out Cordelia since she can't walk on land and all."

"You must be in a considerate mood then."

"Something like that I suppose," he shrugged, "I suppose it's also because I know she had a hard time earlier with finding the empty vault and then dealing with Gordon."

"Well, I'm sure Cordelia-san appreciates your help," she smiled over at him, "But you are right. That empty vault is rather troublesome to think about. We'll have to think of ways to help fill it back up."

"Haven't you heard?" whispering voices suddenly interrupted the pair, quickly catching their attention. Both Nanami and Securus stopped to hear whatever the rumor was, "They say that someone in town has the map to Blackstroker's hoard!"

"Are they gonna go after all that gold? Where is it buried at?"

"Don't know. All I know is that they supposedly have a map and some clues. But could you imagine finding that much treasure? Your great-great-great-grand kids would be set for life with a fortune like that!"

The whisperings died down as the gossipers walked away from the two S-Class mages. Nanami and Securus quickly exchanged glances, Securus smirking over at the woman.

"I don't suppose you have a thing against stealing from pirates, do you?"

"Of course not, Securus-kun," she smiled in return, "What are pirates to do with money except bury it on a new island?"

"I like the way you think!"

**. : + : .**

"Sir, I don't think it's wise to flash that map around like you're doing," a young man said, looking to a middle-aged man wearing a heavy black coat and a worn and dusty, black pirate hat.

"You worried about someone trying to take it from us, boy?" the man replied, looking up from under the hat with a dark smirk.

"It's not that…it'd just be easier for us if people didn't know we had that map."

"What a boring way to live. Don't you think men?" the cloaked man asked. A crowd that filled the bar cheered in response. He then turned back to the younger man, pushing his hat up out of his eyes by the shining silver hook that was his left hand, "I'd like to see someone try to take Blackstroker's map from Madmartigan and the Black Skulls!" he shouted, laughing loudly with the rest of his crew.

* * *

**A/N: **And there were are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

I was really happy to be getting into an actual arc and this one should be good too! Pirates and treasure hunts! Definitely gonna be an interesting time for the guild!

And I've actually been watching One Piece for the first time recently, so that's been giving me a bunch of inspiration for this story. I never thought I would like that show, but thanks to a few people telling me to watch it, I'm now hooked. So thanks to Origm2012 for being one of those people, lol. Seriously, I don't think I've ever connected with characters so quickly before for anything! I just love it so much!

Also, kudos to anyone who knows the movie I gave a shout out to in this chapter with the name Madmartigan.

I would also like to thank those of you that have sent in ideas for the story so far! They've really been helping me out in mapping out new arcs to come! Or even adding ideas to the arcs I already have in mind. So if any of you think of a mission or something you'd like to see, let me know and I'll see if I can't work something in there. Can't promise how quickly it would show up though, but I'll see what I can do.

Now! Onto those lovely reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **LOL, well I don't think I would be able to work Haruna and Jack together for a couple of reasons. Jack actually already has a pairing set for him and considering the age difference between the two, I don't think it would work out very well. But I'll keep a look out for someone for Haruna since I know you mentioned in her profile that you wanted her to be paired up with someone eventually. But I'm glad you liked the party! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Haha! Yep! That was the whole idea behind that new Stylist option for him. But I'm glad you're enjoying the interactions between all the characters and they come off as being alive like that for you! Glad you enjoyed the party and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Glad I could surprise you with that game of Twister, lol. And yeah, I think Eli is about the only person who could be mad while playing it. And I did keep picturing Seth being pretty bad at playing the game too, mostly because of his size, but in the end, Regina's sneeze won out for ruining the game. LOL! Glad you liked that parrot bit with Gamu and I feel it's only fair to get someone to laugh out loud at work when I've done that myself before! Haha! Team Rocket for Ingrid and Kasra! That was great to try and picture! And yeah, rollerblading on a ship can never end well. Although, I'm not sure if we'll ever learn the mystery behind all the skates being in Tazz's room. Yeah, Nanami was definitely able to pull off that revenge bit with her magic! Yeah, I can't be having Mia pulling a Gray so early on, lol. Although, the rating may change depending on how some of these eventual arcs turn out. Some of the fight scene in my head may have it going up a notch, but we'll see. And I'm glad you enjoyed the interaction between Squall and Zhuue! I've been waiting for that too! Yeah, I figured Seth would work out really well as a middle man between Cordelia and Eli, considering how mellow he is when compared to those two. Muwhahahahaha! Can't be having those relationships playing out so easily yet! And you all don't even know the half of it yet! I can't wait for a certain little detail to be exposed here soon! It's a like a cliff hanger in a review response! HA! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Robinfyre - **Glad you enjoyed the party for the ending of the Introduction Arc! And I'm glad the characters having been turning out so well for you. They're all really fun for me to write! And the descriptions are something that I'm usually working on. Like you said, it's a bit different with these types of stories just because readers don't know what all these new OCs look like. But now that we're out of the introductions, we shouldn't get some many like that in a row. But I'm happy to hear how much you're enjoying the story so far and I hope you continue to enjoy it! And I hope you enjoyed this new chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Haha! Glad you enjoyed that scene with Tazz and Nanami! That idea of yours worked out so well! Yep, Isaak definitely had a plan going on with that dancing! Sneaky little guy! And I think Gamu will continue to be an interesting dude, considering his personality and everything. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Raiyane - **Okie dokie, so! I'm gonna try to smoosh a response to all your reviews into one, lol, so this might be a bit long. First off, I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story overall so far and that you're caught up on it! YOSH! Glad you enjoy Matilda! She's always super fun and energetic for me to write! And of course I can't help myself with that romance being thrown in there! Although…I'm still trying to work out everything with the eventual pairing for Cordelia. And I'm glad you're enjoying all the fight scenes and that they're turning out so well! I'm also glad you enjoyed that scene between Jean and Sam. I was laughing while I wrote that one. And I'm glad you like Sam too. Every time I write him, I just want to hug him! And I enjoy Archive magic as well, so I'm glad I got both Sam and Matilda. And I think 'chill' describes Securus pretty well, lol. Can't wait to put The Defender into action! CHA! Yeah, Devin can be scary, but really, he's a cool guy. Kato just happens to be an unlucky (and slightly stupid) guy that messes with him too often. Glad you liked Zhuue too! She really is adorable! Sigh…yeah…Cordelia really doesn't pay attention to romance all that well…but she is better at it than Eli! And I'm glad you like the drawings that are being done right now for the story! Glad you enjoyed both Alisa and Alai! As well as the Murdock family! That Twister scene was a spur of the moment idea, so I'm glad it turned out so well! No, I don't think it's a bad thing to picture Nanami sounding like that since I do that often myself, lol. Haha! Yeah, that scene with Mia was really fun for me to do! And I'll have to keep you guessing a bit with Cordelia and these boys around her for possible romances, lol! But I'm really glad you're enjoying the story so much! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Glad to hear that the girls have moved up on your favorite characters list! Glad you enjoyed the party and that you're liking the whole guild! And we're about to get into some exciting stuff for this arc! And I'm glad you're enjoying the fan art! I'm sure XLil MEkoX appreciates the great feedback! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**RansomeNote - **Yep! The guild definitely knows how to party! And I'm glad you're enjoying all the descriptions and such and that they're turning out so well! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **LOL, glad you liked the party! Yeah, it seems like a lot of people liked that Twister scene, lol. Yeah, I'm not sure how those poor guys (although I shouldn't feel bad for them for the show they got) didn't die of blood loss from Mia's antics. And oh no…are the shipping wars already starting? LOL! We'll just have to wait and see how things play out for Cordelia's love life! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **Glad you enjoyed the party chapter! And now all I can picture is Cordelia stuck in a pinball machine, lol! Poor girl! I hoep you enjoyed this chapter!

**CryptozoologyConundrum - **Happy to hear that you enjoyed that last chapter! And yeah, poor Sam! Being thrown around like that, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**GhostOfOnyx - **Glad you enjoyed the party! And I'm glad to hear that you like Hagi's character so much! Yeah, poor Kato got framed! And no worries on the review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad to hear you enjoyed all the moments in the last chapter! I really had a lot of fun with it, so it's good to see that you all enjoyed it too! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**AkumaXHwaorang - **Glad you enjoyed those scene with Gamu! I really do have too much fun with him right now! But that's a good thing! Yeah, that Mia scene seemed to make most people laugh, so I'm glad to see you enjoyed it too! One of my friends said they wanted to play Portal after reading that scene with Nanami and Tazz, lol. And I'm hoping things turn out as epic as you're all hoping, lol. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Happy to hear you enjoyed the party! And I think those scorings sound about right for all those characters, lol. And now we get to dive into the new arc, so I'm glad that you're excited for that! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Glad I could make you laugh with that last chapter! Yeah, that Twister scene was sorta spur of the moment, so I'm glad I thought of it when I did. And I'm glad you enjoyed Mac's little prank to everyone on that dance floor! And I'm glad you enjoyed that Mia scene too! Seems like most people got a good laugh out of that too. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **I thought you might like that mute friendship! And of course I can thank the artist of the fan art! I'm sure they appreciate that you all are enjoy thing the artwork! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **^.^ Happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! That Twister scene was so much fun for me to write too! But I'm glad you enjoyed all the other scenes going on too! And yep! It's time for some treasure hunting to begin! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad you enjoyed the party! Yeah, it seemed that a lot of readers enjoyed Nanami getting her revenge on Tazz, so I'm glad you enjoyed that too. And yeah, poor Mia having that other side to her when she drinks. But it makes for some pretty funny scenes! And now we can start getting into some more fun and action packed stuff in the new arc! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Sorry to hear about the lack of internet. I know how that can be! But I'm glad you enjoyed the party! And I figured for a feel good chapter then all the characters should be having a good time as well, even if there were just having a drink on the side. And no, drunk skating is not he best idea, but it worked out so well for the scene! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

That should be it for this time around.

So I'll have the next chapter up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	10. First Clue

**A/N: **Huzzah! Got the new chapter finished!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 10: First Clue**

**April 7, X792 - Late Afternoon**

"So wait…where are we going again?" Rio asked, looking at Nanami and Securus, who were currently leading the way through town.

"Just to a bar," Securus answered with a smirk.

"Somehow I don't fully believe that's all we're doing," Chris mumbled, "That smirk is a pretty sure sign that you have something else planned."

"Don't worry so much!" Tazz said, grinning from beside him, "Whatever they want us to do has to be way more fun than spending our time in town on the guild."

"It's not Lance's fault that he gets all queasy when he steps on land," Rio said, "But he should be just fine by the time we get to the bar. Right Lance?" he asked, looking back at the brunette who was currently being pulled across the ground by Rio by a rope tied to one of his legs.

"I still don't know why you had to bring me with you," Lance groaned, holding onto his stomach, "Three of you should have been enough to take care of whatever they need you to do."

"Suck it up, man," Rio said with a roll of his eyes, "You'll be fine soon."

"You two still haven't told us what you need help with anyways," Chris mentioned, ignoring Rio and Lance for the time being as he looked to the two S-Class mages in front of them.

"You heard about the treasure vault on the guild being empty, right?" Securus asked.

"Yeah," the other four answered.

"Well, we found a way to fill it back up for Cordelia-san," Nanami said, "But it is a little tricky at the moment."

"Tricky?" Chris asked.

"Have you all heard of Blackstroker?" Securus replied.

"Isn't he the dude that had a crap load of gold and hid it before he died?" Tazz answered.

"Always so eloquent, Tazz-san, but yes, he is," Nanami said, "We've gotten wind of the treasure map leading to his hoard being in town. But there is a small catch."

"Let me guess. Some else has the map already," Rio said.

"Yep. And we've managed to track down who has it already," Securus said, "But there were too many of them around for us to try to sneak in and grab it. So that's where you four come in. We need you to go into the bar where they're staying at and cause a distraction in order to give us an opening to steal the map."

"Stealing? Doesn't that seem like something we shouldn't be doing?" Chris asked.

"Not when it's from pirates," Securus answered, his smirk growing.

"PIRATES?!" the other four shouted.

"You afraid of them or something?" Securus asked, "I took you four as people who wouldn't step down from a challenge."

"We never said anything about being afraid of them!" Rio and Tazz shouted, "Show us where they're at and we'll take them out!"

"We don't need you taking anyone out," Nanami said, "Just cause enough of a ruckus for us to find the map and steal it from them."

"What if someone has the map on them and not in an empty room somewhere?" Chris asked.

"That's why I'm gonna scope the place out first and then we'll go from there," Securus said just as the group came to a stop across from a large bar and inn. The two S-Class mages made sure to keep everyone at a safe distance on the other side of the street from it while Securus used his magic to hunt the map down, "Hawk-Eye," he said in an even tone. Using his Marksman Magic, he sent magic into his right eye, making the golden orb appear to glow. The spell caused his eye to act like a scope, allowing him to zoom in through all the different windows. His eyes quickly scanned over the front of the bar, seeing many members of the pirate crew, but no signs of a map, "Stay here," was all he said to the group as he began walking towards the building. Although, he moved to one side of it and disappeared down an alley. The group waited just a few minutes before Securus appeared from the other side of the building with a smug smirk on his face.

"So? Did you find anything?" Chris asked.

"I know pirates aren't always the smartest people, but I figured they'd be a bit more cautious of a treasure map, especially one belonging to the infamous Blackstroker," he answered as he pulled out a cigarette from his coat.

"Is that a long ass way of saying yes?" Tazz questioned.

"Yes," he replied, "They left it in a room upstairs just sitting out in the open."

"So that means we get to be a distraction then?" Rio asked.

"Looks that way," Securus said, blowing out a stream of smoke.

"You four be careful though," Nanami added, "We don't know what the crew is like or what they're capable of."

"Don't worry about us," Rio smirked, "We can handle some stupid pirates. Not the first time I've had a run in with them."

"Still, if you get hurt, Cordelia-san will blame it on Securus-kun and I."

"You suddenly afraid of the new guild master?" Tazz asked with a grin, "And here I was thinking you were tougher than that, Shiraki."

"I'd suggest you four get moving before she decides to send you into another continuous loop," Securus said after noticing Nanami's annoyance.

"Tch," was all Tazz replied with before the group began making their way towards the bar, Rio still dragging Lance with them.

"Hard to believe that you're younger than her, Shiraki," Securus mentioned, looking over at the woman.

"That's only because Tazz-san lacks manners," Nanami answered, "Now, aren't you going to lead the way to the map?"

"Yeah, yeah," he answered, walking towards one of the alleyways with Nanami close behind him.

As the two disappeared to the back of the building, the other four had made their way to the doorway of the bar. Before Tazz or Chris could talk about what to do for a distraction, Rio decided to take the lead on things.

"Time to get up, lazy bones!" he shouted as he tossed Lance through the doors by the rope. The door busted open and Lance flew across the room into the bar area, knocking over liquor bottles in the process. The room went quiet for a moment, the pirates waiting to see what was going on with cautious eyes. Though, the silence didn't last for long when Lance popped up from his crash.

"What the hell?!" he shouted, jumping up onto the bar top, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"You were taking too long getting your land-legs, but you seem perfectly fine now," Rio answered with a smirk.

"So you throw me into a bar?!" Lance continued to shout, not taking note of the pirates around him until one attempted to approach him.

"Oi! Do you know what crew you've dropping into?!" a man shouted.

"Shut up!" Lance snapped.

"Excuse me?!"

"Stop interrupting!" Lance yelled as he threw a palm out towards the man, "Laser Make: Blast!" he announced, shooting out a medium sized, red orb at the man. It hit his target dead on, sending the man flying backwards into a wall. He slid to the floor, landing in a smoking heap. Things went quite after that and it was then that Lance looked around to see where they were at and all the pirates that now surrounded them.

"You come into my bar and blast one of my men?!" a large man with a thick, black coat shouted, "You're gonna live to regret it! Black Skulls! Attack!"

At the captain's command, the entire crew moved to attack the four mages.

"Ahhh yeah! We finally get some action around here!" Tazz yelled happily, fully prepared for the men that were running towards the doorway where she stood with Rio and Chris still, "You boys keep them busy for a moment while I analyze them."

"You got it," Chris and Rio answered, taking a step in front of her to block the pirates from reaching her.

"Hydropump!" Rio said as he threw out a palm. From his palm a pressurized water beam came forth, drenching the men coming at them and keeping them from moving forward, "Your turn, Chris!"

"Here we go!" Chris smirked as the yellow gem on his bracelet began to glow, "Elemental Fang Fist!" he shouted as a wolf's head made of lighting covered his right fist. He slammed the fist down onto the ground where the water started. The lightning quickly flowed throughout the water until it eventually reached the drenched pirates, electrocuting a good number of them. They all shouted in pain for a moment before they landed in large, smoking heaps on the floor.

"Looks like your Elemental Fists Magic still packs a punch," Rio said.

"Of course it does," Chris replied, "And that was a horrible pun."

"I really wasn't trying," Rio chuckled.

"Yeah, I suppose you're not that smart."

"Yeah, I suppose no-hey!"

"We're still in the middle of something here, boys," Tazz interrupted them, "You can make fun of each other later. Though, I should thank you for giving me some time to analyze."

"Yeah, you should," they both answered.

Tazz simply shrugged at them as three men that weren't affected by the lightning came towards them, "I'll show you how it's done," she smirked back at them before turning back towards her opponents. She rushed up on them before they could attack her all at once, "You three should know that I used my Pinpoint spell earlier to check out the weaknesses within your body. You have horribly weak ankles," she said, looking over at the man to her left. She quickly slammed a foot down into one of his ankles, causing him to go down easily. She then turned to the man in the middle, sending a hard punch into his gut, "You had surgery on your stomach about a year ago. It's still a weak spot for you now," she said just before the man grabbed onto his stomach and fell to the ground, "And you," she said, turning to the last man, "Well, you've had several concussions throughout your life. That makes your head rather weak," she said as she slammed his head into one of the beams that held the building up. The man was knocked out in an instant.

Rio and Chris watched in amazement at Tazz's abilities. They always tended to forget how smart she actually was.

"It's a good thing she's not using that Pulse Magic of hers to internally damage them," Rio mumbled.

"Uhhh…I'm not so sure about that," Chris replied, staring down at the man that had been punched in the stomach, "Pretty sure there's some internal damage going on there," he added when he saw the man twitch in pain.

"Whatever," Rio said, shaking off his surprise, "We can't let those two have all the fun, now can we?" he asked, motioning towards Lance and Tazz who were in the middle of fighting off more pirates.

"I suppose not," Chris answered, walking into the giant brawl with Rio.

**. : + : .**

"Are you sure it's up in that room, Securus-kun?" Nanami asked, looking over at the man.

"What? You suddenly doubting my abilities?"

"I just want to make sure I'm not wasting any of my magic."

"Tch, if this was anyone else, I'd think you were being rude and annoying," Securus grumbled.

"I'm not trying to be rude."

"I know that," he said, turning to blow his cigarette smoke away from her, "But that map is up in that room."

"All right. Just give me a moment and I'll retrieve it," she said, pulling out Swallowtail from its sheath. She looked up to the window that Securus had pointed out before tearing a red hole open with the blade just in front of her. She stepped through it, disappearing for a moment. Securus kept his eye on the window and soon enough, another red hole appeared with Nanami exiting through it. She looked around the room for the map. It only took her a moment to see a rolled up, old looking scroll sitting on the bed in the room, "They really did do a bad job of leaving this map out in the open like this," she commented. However, she still unrolled the scroll to make sure it really was the map. She quirked an eyebrow when she saw that the map was a solid black with white writing across it in messy cursive. She didn't have much time to read what was in the scroll other than Blackstroker's name when she heard the fighting downstairs become heavier, "I suppose this will have to do for now," she said as she rolled the map back up and tucked it away in her jacket. She quickly jumped back through the hole and closed it up before reappearing back in front of Securus and closing off the first hole she made as well.

"We all set then?" he asked, seeing the confusion on her face.

"I suppose so," she answered, still feeling unsure about the map she had taken, "It was the only map-like object in the room."

"Map-like?"

"I'll explain later, but it sounds like things are getting out of hand down in the bar."

"Guess we should go round up those four then."

Just as the two moved back to the front of the building, they heard Rio shout loudly.

"Where the hell do they all keep on coming from?! Enough of this shit! Eat fire you idiots!"

"Wait! Rio!" Chris shouted.

"Inferno Hacky!" Rio continued, ignoring Chris as he kicked up several red hacky sacks. As soon as they hit pirates or tables, they exploded into a plethora of fire balls. The bar easily caught fire and people were sent flying in all directions.

Nanami's eyes went wide upon seeing all the flames going up and attempted to move in to grab her guildmates. Though, she was quickly stopped when a heavy arm was slung over her shoulders.

"Securus-kun?"

"Just keep moving," he said, not bothering to look over at the building, "We can't afford to get caught up in that right now."

"But the others."

"They'll be fine," he said, forcing the two of them to move just as a crowd was beginning to gather outside the burning bar. Though, they both suddenly faltered when they heard the windows breaking and a small explosion go off.

"Run for it!" Rio shouted as he leapt out of the window before they got caught up in the explosion.

"You were the idiot that caused this!" Lance shouted from behind him.

"Just move it before we get caught!" Chris yelled, following the other two men.

The three of them zipped past the S-Class mages, not even realizing who they had passed.

Securus sighed heavily as he ran a hand through his hair, "That guy and his Hacky Sack Magic."

"Wait a minute," Nanami said, "One, two, three…where's Tazz-san?"

"Looks like you belong to a guild, little lady," a deep voice said as a figure appeared out of the billowing smoke from the bar. Securus and Nanami watching as a tall and broad man walked towards them. A black coat and hat covered him and Tazz hung from the back of her shirt on a large silver hook he had for a hand. Messy, dark hair hung all around his face, partially covering dark eyes filled with annoyance, "And unfortunately for you, I know of your guild, so how about we drop by the docks to see what your master thinks of what you've done here today," he explained, having seen the white guild mark under her collarbone.

"Put me down, you big bully!"

"I had hoped for a better comeback than that," he answered as he continued down the street towards the docks.

Securus made sure to keep Nanami locked in place as the arguing pair passed them. And he made sure to not let her move until they were out of sight.

"We should have helped her," Nanami said with a frown.

"Then we could have risked being found out. We have to make sure to get that map back to Cordelia."

"I know, but Tazz-san…"

"She's a tough girl. She deals with those other three idiots on a daily basis, so she can handle it."

"Cordelia-san is still going to be upset that we let something like that happen in the first place."

"I'll deal with Cordelia when the time comes, so you can stop worrying so much," he said, beginning to move forward, "Now let's head back. We need to make sure those four don't say anything stupid in front of that captain guy that could give our plan away."

Nanami simply nodded in reply before following him.

**. : + : .**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Seth asked, looking over at Eli, "I'm pretty sure you're going to make Cordelia mad again with this."

"It'll be fine," Eli said with a smile, "She's fast asleep again after stopping by the music store. Plus, I don't want to spend the rest of the afternoon lugging all these barrels back to the guild."

"But you told her that you wouldn't carry all the barrels back at once."

"But we won't be carrying them," Eli said as he finished setting things up, Cordelia sleeping on top of Seth's shoulders with her head plopped down on top of his. Seth was also carrying the red and black headphones she had bought for Devin while Eli had a wooden guitar slung on his back, "We'll be riding them back. Think you can handle that?"

"It's not that I can't handle it," Seth answered, "It's just that I have this feeling that this isn't going to play out the way you're thinking."

"Well then, you can carry your share back by yourself if you want."

"That's no fun."

"Then it looks like you're stuck doing this with me," Eli said, grinning when he saw Seth give in with a sigh, "Now, we just need to push the line of barrels from the back to get them started and then use these boards to throw on top of them to act as surf boards," he explained, handing over a long plank of wood over to Seth.

"Guess we should get this started then," Seth said, moving towards the back of the line of barrels with Eli. The two of them counted down from three and began pushing. Soon enough the barrels began moving and picking up speed, the two men having to start running before throwing their boards on top of the barrels and jumping up on them. Eli was a few barrels ahead of Seth, the larger man landing on his own board towards the back of the line hard enough to jostle Cordelia awake.

She blinked a few times, unsure of where she was and why a town was passing by her so quickly. She then looked ahead of her to see Eli in front of her bent down slightly like he was surfing, "What the hell?" she mumbled as she looked down towards the ground. It was then that she saw the moving barrels under them and that people were having to dodge the moving line they were on, "WHAT THE HELL?!" she shouted.

"You're awake," Seth mentioned.

"Why are we barrel surfing our why back to the guild?!" Cordelia continued shouting, "ELI! This has your name written all over it!"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," he said back to her, "Just enjoy the ride."

"I told you to take the barrels back in groups!"

"You only told me to _carry _them back one at a time," he smirked back at her, "You never said anything about not being able to ride them back."

"I didn't think I had to!"

"Well it doesn't matter now. You can't jump off or else you'll just fall down from land sickness."

"Just wait until we get back to the guild! And how do you plan on stopping all of these barrels to get them onto ships?!"

"Uhhh…"

"You moron! You didn't even think about that, did you?!"

"Guess we'll just have to wing it."

"Wing it?! All these barrels are going to break and then it's gonna cost me more money I don't have!" she said, now crying as she face planted back onto the top of Seth's head.

Seth patted her head, "It'll be fine. I'll make sure none of them get broken."

"Yeah, all right," she sniffed in response. She watched as they made their way through town and down towards the docks. For a moment, she thought that Seth might have been right and that things would be fine until she saw a slight obstacle in their way, "We're totally going to hit that guy!" she shouted when she saw a large man in a black coat heading towards the dock their guild was stationed at, facing away from them.

"OI! Move it!" Eli shouted at him in an attempted to get him to move.

The man looked back at them, but didn't move out of the way.

"Dammit!" Eli grumbled, moving his board down the line until he reached the front barrels. He forced the barrels to move around the man, causing the entire line of them to move outwards and then back in at a sharp angle. This also caused them to pick up some speed as they flew down the docks and up onto the guild. The three of them went flying up off of the barrels, Cordelia falling off of Seth's shoulders in the process. Though, she didn't land hard on the deck like to two men. She was easily caught by Isaak, who had been waiting with Ace and Devin for them to come back to help load the barrels onto the supply ship.

"Looks like angels really do fall," Isaak said, smiling down at the guild master in his arms.

"Isaak!" Cordelia shouted in embarrassment, a flush across her cheeks.

"Put her down, Marzell!" Eli yelled, attempting to get up. Though, the falling barrels easily smacked him back down.

"If a single one of those barrels break, it's coming out of your pocket!" Cordelia snapped.

Luckily for Eli, Seth had made sure that all the barrels landed safely, including the ones that had hit Eli.

"Looks like you had quite the ride in from town," Isaak said as he put Cordelia back on her feet, "And I'm surprised you even went into town in the first place. I know how you are on land."

"Yeah, well, I had to get something important."

"Is this the guild, Storm's Helm?" a deep voice asked, interrupting the conversation.

The group looked over to see the man in the black coat from before standing on the docks in front of them. They also saw Tazz hanging from a large hook by her shirt.

"Tazz!" Cordelia shouted.

"Looks like I'm at the right place then," the man said.

"Let her go!" Cordelia yelled.

"Not until I speak with the master of this guild."

"Well you're talking to her, so let her go right now!"

"You?" the man asked with a laugh, "You're kidding me, right?"

Cordelia called out her Twin Pistols, aiming them at the man, "Does it look like I'm kidding?" she asked lowly, "Now let her go."

The man stared Cordelia down a moment longer before throwing Tazz up on the ship, "You should keep a better watch over your guild members," he said, watching as Cordelia moved to stand in front of the younger woman, "They tore up my bar and roughed up my men."

"Maybe your men need to be a bit more thick-skinned," Cordelia replied, "Who are you anyways?"

"Madmartigan," he answered, "You'd be wise to remember that name and stay out of my way. Your guild isn't the only vessel on the seas, you know."

"Is that a threat?"

"Take it as you like," he shrugged as he began walking away, "Just don't go sticking your nose into things that you shouldn't be. Life will be easier for you and your guild that way."

Once he was gone, Cordelia sighed in relief and recalled her pistols. She then turned to look at Tazz, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"I…uh…I got into a fight?"

Cordelia sighed at her answer, "A fight over what? And how bad did it turn out for that man to bring you all the way here himself? And why does his name sound familiar?"

"Don't be mad at her, Cordelia-san," Nanami interrupted, walking up onto the ship with Securus.

"I'm not mad…unless I should be," she answered, "I just want to know what's going on."

Securus looked over at Tazz, "Thanks for the help, but we'll explain things from here. You should go find those boys a give them a hard time for abandoning you back there."

Tazz's eye twitched at the mention of her teammates running off without her and quickly disappeared towards the dorms to hunt them down.

"So what's going on?" Cordelia asked, looking at the two S-Class mages along with the small group behind her.

"You needed a way to fill up the vault and we found a way to do it," Securus answered, "Blackstroker's hoard."

"You're kidding, right?" Cordelia answered, almost wanting to laugh, "No one has any idea where that treasure is or if it even really exists."

"We got the map," Securus replied, "That's how Tazz got caught. We had her, Rio, Chris and Lance be a distraction to those pirates while Nanami and I got the map."

"Pirates," Cordelia mumbled as pieces suddenly clicked together in her mind, "Pirates! Madmartigan and the Black Skulls! You went and stole from them?! Holy hell! Do you have any idea what kind of enemy you just made for our guild?!"

"Calm down, Cordelia-san," Nanami said, "They don't know we took the map."

"Plus, their building was on fire when we left," Securus added, "That map could have easily burnt up in the flames for all they know."

"That map better be real for you two to go and cause all that trouble," Cordelia grumbled, "Let me see it at least."

Nanami pulled out the scroll from her jacket and handed it over, "It looks a little odd."

Cordelia unrolled it to see the pitch black color of the page with the white letting across it, "What is this? Is this really a map?"

Isaak looked over it, quickly recognizing something familiar about it, "It's coded in Runes," he said, "I've seen a few treasure maps like this before. You have to figure out clues to reveal pieces of the map."

"Well, what's it say?" Ace asked.

"Welcome to my treasure hunt!" Cordelia began, "You've found the one and only map to my hoard of gold! But of course, I couldn't make it easy for you. You will have to follow clues and solve puzzles before you get your reward. Below is the first clue to the first piece of my map. Good luck and happy hunting! William Blackstroker," she said, looking up at the crowd around her. She then glanced down at the clue underneath the beginning message, "I like it louder than the boom of a big bass drum. I need it harder than the sound of guitar grunge. I like to crank it up, make it thump, all needles to the core. Head banging in the pit and throwing my horns. And just like old school Sabbath, Zeppelin and Lemmy, I need to drop it down low and make it heavy. I like it heavy!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ace asked.

Everyone stayed silent as they thought about what it could be. Though, it was Devin that had a light bulb go off in his mind as his eyes lit up in realization.

"Those are song lyrics!" he said.

"What? Why would Blackstroker leave song lyrics as a clue?" Eli asked.

"I know song lyrics when I hear them," Devin retorted, "And those are lyrics to a heavy rock band called Ocean Rage. The lead singer is a woman named Van Black."

"So what? We have to go hunt down this band?" Ace asked.

"It's the only thing that remotely makes sense," Securus said.

"Plus, her last name is Black. Black. Blackstroker. Maybe they're related," Cordelia added.

"Yeah, but where is this band even at?" Eli asked.

"They're touring in Caelum right now," Devin answered. The others stared at him in surprise, "What? I like them a lot, so I keep up with them when they're touring."

"I already wanted to head to Caelum anyways," Cordelia said, a smile finally appearing on her face, "All right! Looks like we're gonna be going treasure hunting! And for Blackstroker's hoard!"

"We'll be set for life with a hoard like that!" Ace cheered.

"And it looks like we've already got the first clue figured out!" Cordelia grinned, hugging Devin tightly, "You're the best, Devin!" she said, taking the headphones from Seth and handing them over to Devin, "You more than deserve these right now!"

Devin stared down at the new headphones in surprise, "You didn't have to buy me new ones."

"Of course I did! You other ones broke."

Devin smiled softly down at them, "Thanks."

"You're welcome!" she answered, "Now then, we should get prepared for the treasure hunt…" she began before drifting off for a moment as an odd feeling came over her, like someone was watching over them.

"Cor?" Eli asked, "What's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh! It's nothing!" she answered with a forced smile, "I just zoned out for a moment. Now then! Let's start getting ready! I want to head out sooner than two days. So once everyone is back on the guild, we're heading out!"

The others nodded at her and began moving further into the guild, a few of them carrying barrels with them to store on the supply ship. As they moved away, Cordelia turned back to face an area up away from the docks. She narrowed her eyes at an alleyway that she had felt that odd feeling from, but she didn't see anyone or anything there. Still, she couldn't shake the bad feeling it had brought and she hoped that taking in Blackstroker's map wasn't a bad decision.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Madmartigan - MyDearWatson**

Alrighty! So that was lots of fun to write and we've got some things starting up now!

So with the introduction of Madmartigan and the Black Skulls, I will be taking submissions for his crew! Now, submissions for them will work a bit differently as I want 7 main crew members (as he has a large crew). These 7 people will be the focused villains for this arc along with Madmartigan, so they will be the strongest people in his crew aside for himself. I haven't fully decided on a magic for Madmartigan and I will most likely wait until I see what I get from you all to decide on his. So you have free reign of magic. Also, keep in mind, they don't have to have magic. They can use magic items or have specific fighting styles that they're masters of. I mean, you can literally do anything you want, so long as these guys are strong since they'll have to constantly battle it out with our heroes all the way up until the end of the arc. But do keep in mind that they'll eventually get beaten. Also, again the only thing I ask is that you do not send me in a Slayer of any type!

So the first 7 of you that send me in a crew member will get one of these spots! After that, I'll have to close things off. I also ask that you only send in one as this will give other people a chance to send something in. If you send something in after the cut off point, I'll let you know and may ask you to save that villain for something later. I will put up a counter in my profile under the Storm's Helm section for how many spots are filled, so check there first to see if there are any slots open. I would ask that you follow the same form as you did for your OCs and PM the character to me. Although, you probably won't need to fill out the Romance section. But I would still like to know what they look like, their clothing, their personality, their magic/abilities and their history. Also, if you want them tied in with a specific character, let me know and we'll work something out. It doesn't have to be anything complicated like them being related to someone. It could be something humorous, like a quick run in they had with each other a while back or something. Just let me know!

I also have plans of Naval Forces being involved soon, so if you would be interested in sending in a character for them, PM me and we'll discuss things as I still have to work out some things for this group before I introduce them and start to fully accept submissions for them. I just wanted to give you all a heads up on this if you wanted to plan ahead for a character.

Now then, let's see…ah! Yes! As a couple of you mentioned, Madmartigan is from an older movie and was played by Val Kilmer. The movie is called Willow and I swear it gets funnier every time I watch it, though, I blame Val Kilmer for his role as Madmartigan for that, lol.

Also, the lyrics used in the clue were from the song 'I Like It Heavy' by Halestorm. Awesome song and band! But I don't own anything!

I'm still working on One Piece and I finally met Ace! Hands down my favorite character next to Sanji! But I always end up liking characters that make me sad and I've already figured out things that will eventually happen and now I want to cry! T.T

Anyways…

Let's move onto those awesome reviews!

**Origm2012 - **Haha! Well I'm glad to hear that reading a new chapter won over the Seven Deadly Sins! We already have our first mystery about a character! Something is definitely going on with Sam, but we'll have to be patient on that one. But I'm glad you liked the interactions between all the characters in that opening scene. Well, Gordon was never gonna be the set guild master, lol, thank goodness! But he was actually created after Cordelia was. Really, the original plan was for him to disappear after he was defeated, but then I created him and liked him enough to keep him on as a main character and now I'm working to knock him dow2n and then rebuild him…kinda like Gajeel, lol. Yeah, I figured having Finn there for Cordelia would help her a lot, and Duke too once he makes an appearance. Haha! Glad you enjoyed that land sickness bit as well as the gun shop scene. And of course I have to tease you all a bit. I gotta get my fun in somehow. But that bit I was teasing you with still hasn't come out, so you'll still have to wait for that, lol. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **LOL! That Simpson's reference! I was secretly hoping someone would do that! But I figured many of you would pick up on that Shining reference compared to the Willow one I used. Glad you like the idea of the pirates going on in this chapter. I'm really liking the idea myself and I hope they turn out well for you all once more of them start getting introduced. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Yeah, that land sickness really gets to the Murdock siblings, lol. Well you're farther along with the show than I am, so that's a bonus point for you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Cat the Alien - **Glad to hear that you're still enjoying things going on in Storm's Helm! And I'll work something out to have some more screen time between Kasra and John, lol. But I'm glad that you really enjoyed the last chapter. And yes! Madmartigan was played by Val Kilmer! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**CryptozoologyConundrum - **^.^ Glad you're liking the guild so much! Poor Jay! He really doesn't stand a chance, does he? But I'm glad you enjoyed the scene with Cordelia and her dad. And Gordon will be a slow build into an eventual good guy…well as good as he can get, lol. Yeah, those pirates are probably gonna regret waving that map around, lol. They just have no idea yet! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Yep! The start of the first big arc! Can't be that easy getting the map away from the pirates, now can it? And I'm glad you enjoyed Vi's jokes, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Yeah, that land sickness is pretty bad for Cordelia and Ace. But I've got ways around that planned eventually for emergency purposes! Haha! I'm sure Devin won't mind helping out with the treasure hunt, especially after getting those new headphones. ^.^ Glad that you're enjoying Vi's character so much! And Aria is a bit of an oddball, so she'll probably constantly do weirder things throughout the story, lol. Yeah, I think those pirates are gonna have a harder time than they thought when it comes to the guild. And writing these chapters is fun for me, so I don't mind the quick updates. Although, I did take a small break recently for my birthday and the vacation I went on, so that's why it took a bit longer than usual to get this chapter up. But I hope you enjoyed it!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you enjoyed the chapter! The land sickness seemed to be a favorite moment for many of you, lol. But I'm glad you liked that small interaction between Eli and Cordelia. And I'm glad that you're liking the fan art! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Yeah, little by little Gordon will redeem himself, but he dug a pretty deep grave for himself, so it'll take some time for him to get out of it. Glad you liked that father-daughter moment. I figured Finn would do well in helping Cordelia out. Securus has his good moments, lol. Yeah, the Murdock siblings have it rough with that land sickness! Glad you liked the chapter overall! And yeah, One Piece is turning into one of my favorites now, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **LOL, yeah that's the usual ritual. And I hadn't thought of her having a weakness against earth mages until you mentioned it, but now it's a high possibility. Oh no! Vi brought out the puns, lol! But yeah, she knows how to "cut a bargain". Yeah, well, I'm sure Cordelia hoped that Aria would have better sense and Jay was with her too, so I supposed that helped. And I think Nanami and Securus definitely made Cordelia's day with that map, even if they made some pirate enemies in the process. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **Haha! Glad to hear that you like the idea of pirates! And those dark guilds will eventually start making their way into the story, so I'm sure you'll be ready to send in some villains when I need them for those guilds, lol. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Yep, that land sickness is pretty hard on the Murdock siblings. There will be a few ways around it for them eventually. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Glad you enjoyed that father-daughter moment and that you think Cordelia is doing well so far as a guild master! And fighting pirates will be coming soon! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Yeah, Matilda without coffee…it's a bad thing, lol. And Sam's secret will stay hidden for a while, but we'll eventually get there. Yeah, we're gonna see some slow growth for Gordon, but at least he admitted his screw ups in the last chapter. Glad you enjoyed that land sickness bit for the Murdock siblings, lol. And the pirates should make things pretty interesting for the guild! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yeah, Gordon will slowly be realizing his mistakes, though he make take a few steps backwards in the process every now and then, lol, but he'll eventually get there. And I'm glad you liked the land sickness bit for Cordelia and Ace! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **Yep, those pirates should make things interesting for the guild! And it'll be the entire guild getting involved with the hunt since they have to figure out all those clues first! So it should be pretty fun! And yes, I could totally picture Securus hustling people into doing his work for him, so that bit got put in there, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **I haven't thought about decaf coffee for Matilda, mostly because she'll instantly know what it's not the real stuff. So she probably would get mad, lol. Yeah, at least Gordon wasn't using the money for himself, so that's a plus for him. Glad you enjoyed the land sickness bit. And yeah, I'm sure there will be a lot of connections eventually being shown through different towns for people in the guild. Yeah, you gotta watch out for those pirates. They just sneak up right on you! Yeah, I'm slowly getting through One Piece, but it's totally worth it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**The Baz - **Haha! Gotta keep you readers on your toes with these new stories, lol! But I'm glad you're like the story and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Yeah, that land sickness is rough for Cordelia and Ace. And how she dealt with it in the past for missions will eventually be explained. Yep! New villains to come for this arc! I'm excited myself to see what people send in for the villains! And no worries on the review timing, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

All right, I think that's all for this chapter then.

I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	11. The First Mate and the Sharpshooter

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter down!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 11: The First Mate and the Sharpshooter**

**April 7, X792 - Evening**

"Ya know, this dinner was only supposed to be for Haruna," Ajax mumbled as he walked through town with the small group behind him. He glanced back at them with an unamused stare, "So why is it that you two have managed to tag along?"

"I can't wait for all the good food," Haruna said, smiling brightly as she walked along the path next to Squall, "Ne Squall?"

The younger girl smiled up at her with a thumbs up.

"I suppose it's good that you're both so easy to please," Mac said, smiling to both girls, "I think most girls your age are into make-up and boys and clothes."

"Ew! What am I supposed to do with all of that? Well…boys might be cute, but it's not like I can eat make-up or clothes. I don't want to waste my money on things like that all the time," Haruna answered, Squall nodding agreement.

"It's not like you're the one even paying for the food this time!" Ajax said, trying to butt his way into the conversation.

"I suppose that's good for the life style we live," Mac said, "It's not like we can always get the current fashion out in the middle of the ocean."

Squall quickly twisted her hair up to look like a turban, looking over at Haruna with a sly smirk.

Haruna laughed loudly in response, "You're right! Unless you're Kasra!"

"That man does have an odd way of always having high end merchandise sent out to him, even when we're in the middle of the ocean," Mac mentioned.

"OI! Are any of you listening to me?!" Ajax shouted.

"What is it?" Mac and Haruna both asked, all three girls looking annoyed that their conversation had been interrupted.

"Don't give me that look," Ajax huffed, "You were the ones ignoring me."

"Well, you've got our attention now, so what do you want?" Mac asked.

Ajax stared at all three of them, still trying to figure out how he ended up going out to dinner with all of them, "I can understand why Haruna brought Squall since they are friends after all, but why did you tag along?" he replied, looking at Mac.

"Why not?" she said with a smirk, "I happened to be passing by the girls when I heard Haruna ask Squall to come with her and I was hungry, so I tagged along. It was an added bonus to find out you were paying too."

"Who said I was paying for your meal?"

"Well, you are paying for the girls, so why not me too?" she asked with a pout.

"That's because I owe Haruna for knocking her out in the fight for the S-Class spot and I don't mind paying for Squall either, but you on the other hand…I don't see the need to pay for you too with my own money."

"So your big brotherly love stops with me?"

"Don't say it like that! That makes it sound weird!"

"Then pay for my food too!"

"Will you stop pouting then?"

"Yes!"

"Fine," Ajax sighed, giving into her.

"Thanks!" Mac grinned widely, knowing he would have given into her eventually. He wouldn't leave her to starve and the brotherly part of him would want to take care of her. That's just how Ajax was, so it was usually pretty easy for her to weasel a free meal out of him.

"Yeah, sure," he said, "Now, where do you want to eat, Haruna?"

"Awww, she gets to pick the restaurant?" Mac pouted again.

"Of course she gets to pick!" Ajax retorted loudly, "She's really the only one that should be going to dinner! And you said you would stop pouting! I do have the ability to not pay for your food!"

Mac only huffed in reply, looking away from him.

"So Haruna," Ajax began again in a calmer tone, "Where would you like to eat?" he asked. Normally he wasn't so flustered, but Mac always had this way of getting under his skin. He wasn't sure if it was because they joined the guild around the same time or what, but she found enjoyment in teasing him constantly. He often found himself at the other end of her pranks, although he had gotten much better at not falling for them over the years on the guild.

"Somewhere with an open patio that way no one will be upset about Sho eating with us," Haruna answered, smiling down at the cat in her arms, "The last time I took him inside a restaurant, some people made complaints about an animal being in there with them."

"I'm not just some animal! I have table manners!" Sho shouted in his defense.

"How about this place then?" he asked, pointing towards a café with an open area outside. Both Haruna and Squall sniffed the air, smiling when they got a waft of good smelling food, "Looks like it works," Ajax smiled at them. Though, his smile quickly fell when he noticed that Mac had disappeared from their group, "Now where did she go?" he mumbled, attempting to look back in the crowd they had just come from. He frowned when he couldn't see her, looking back at the two girls, "You two go grab a table. I'll go find Mac and be right back."

"Sounds good!" Haruna said before running off towards the restaurant with Squall and Sho.

Once he saw that they were safely at a table, Ajax turned back into the crowd they had come from, "How the hell can someone so small cause so many problems?" he grumbled, trying to find the short woman within all the moving people.

"Hey missy, what is a pretty little thing like you doing here? You all by yourself?"

Ajax heard the words before he saw the scene, turning where he heard the deep voice coming from. There he saw two men hovering over Mac, who stood in front of a small pet shop. The two men leered down at her while continuing to inch closer to her. Ajax knew that she could take care of herself if the men tried anything, but he couldn't stand to see the men try to gain up on her like that. It was one of the few things that really pissed him off, no matter who it was getting bullied. Though, they were trying to hit on her rather than bully her, which irked him a bit more since it was obvious she didn't want their attention.

"You two are annoying," Mac said lowly, "Go away."

"A woman with a backbone," one of the men said with a grin, "I like that. I like to break them down."

"Touch me and you'll be wishing you hadn't," she said, her eyes narrowing at them.

"Well, I like a challenge," the other man added as they both moved in towards her.

Before she even had a chance to grab onto the wood staff on her back, Ajax moved in with his brass knuckles on. He punched the first man so hard in the head that he slammed into the second one, knocking them both across the ground. They laid on the ground for a moment longer, blood running down the side of the first man's head, before they stood up to try and take on who had hit them. Though, they both quickly froze when they saw Ajax glaring down at them.

"Care for a second round?" the air mage growled as he cracked his knuckles, "I didn't even get to use my magic yet," he added. The two men quickly ran off at his words, knowing they wouldn't be able to take on the mage, "Tch, wimps," he said, turning to look at Mac, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she huffed at him, "They didn't even touch me…and I could have handled them myself."

"You're welcome," he said with a roll of his eyes, "And don't go disappearing like that. You're so short that it's hard to find you in a crowd. I mean, even Haruna is taller than you and you're almost ten years older than her," he said with a small laugh.

"Are you laughing at my height?!"

"Maybe," he teased, "But seriously, what did you go disappearing for?"

"I remembered that I needed to pick up some food and stuff for Rat when I passed by this store," she answered.

"The mouse named Rat," he said with a flat look.

"You got a problem with that?!"

"No, no, calm down," he said, "But if you really need to pick up some stuff, we can stop by here when we're finished eating."

"Oh right! I'm still hungry!"

Ajax sighed in response to her comment, leading her away from the pet store and towards the restaurant, "Let's go. The girls are waiting for us at a table already."

**. : + : .**

"Why do you always have to follow me?" Jean asked, looking back at Rin, who was closely following the blonde with a playful smirk.

"It entertains me," Rin answered, fixing his top hat back into its usual tipped position, "Besides, I needed to stretch my legs anyways."

"Then go do it somewhere else!" Jean snapped, "You'll only be a hindrance."

"A hindrance in what?"

"None of your business."

"Then I suppose I'll just have to keep following you until I figure out what you're doing, my friend."

"We're not even friends! Rivals maybe, but not friends!"

"What are rivals but friends who battle each other?"

"We're not friends!" was all Jean could answer with, "Now, if you're quite finished with your teasing, then go away."

"I quite like following you though, so I think I'll stay."

Jean felt his eye twitch, but he said nothing else in reply. He decided to simply ignore the man behind him while he began his 'hunting'. He came to a stop in the middle of the town square and began to look around until something caught his eye. He plastered what he thought was a handsome smile on his face and made his way over to a rather pretty brunette woman. He saddled up next to her on the bench she sat on, the woman looking over at him and waiting for him to speak while Rin watched the scene play out in amusement.

"I believe all the stars must have fallen from the sky and landed in your eyes from the way they sparkle so brightly," he said in a smooth voice.

A sweat drop fell down the woman's head as well as Rin's, the younger man staring at Jean in utter disappointment. The woman made a quick excuse and made a bee line for a street leading away from the square. Laughter started to bubble up through Rin until he was outright laughing in the middle of the square, having to hold onto the bench Jean sat at to keep himself from falling over.

"Would you be quiet," Jean snapped, "It's already embarrassing enough that she left."

"You should feel more embarrassed about that pick up line!" Rin said before roaring in laughter again, "I've never heard anything so bad! And I was supposed to be a hindrance for you?! HA!"

"Yeah, well, I'm sure you're not any better at this."

"Oh, I'm fairly confident that I am."

"Then prove it," Jean stated, pointing over towards a pretty redhead, "Go win her over."

"No problem," Rin said with a smirk before walking over towards the woman. He quickly turned her around in a smooth twirl before kissing the top of her hand, "Care to talk a walk with me, madam?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing with my girl?!" a man shouted from just behind the woman. Rin looked up to see a rather large and fuming man.

"Oh my," was all Rin could say before he was punched back across the square by the large man, skidding to a stop next to a laughing Jean. Rin glanced up at him with an irritated stare, his left eye already turning black, "You knew she had a boyfriend, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Jean answered, "But it looks like I was right. You couldn't win her over."

"Well, it wasn't like you played fair."

"So it's a game you'd like to play?" Jean asked with a sly grin, "How about the first one to pick up a girl wins a week worth of free drinks from the loser?"

"Deal," Rin said, quickly grabbing Jean's outstretched hand and shook it.

The two men then moved around the square from woman to woman, each trying his best to win one over. They tried everything from cliché pick-up lines to grand gestures to even offering to buy the woman something expensive. Though, it appeared that the women in the town were not at all amused by their flirtations, turning them down each time they made an attempt.

"These women are rather stuck up, aren't they?" Rin asked, looking over at Jean.

"Yes, they are a bit hard to break down," Jean agreed, "But I must not give up! I will become victorious! Especially before the likes of you!" he shouted, pointing a rapier dramatically at Rin while light exploded behind him.

"Well," Rin began in a flat tone, "I think I've figured out why the women are turned off by you at least."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Jean Marcus! Rin Noburu!" an overly high pitched voice shouted, causing both men to instantly freeze up. They slowly turned around with pale and horrified faces to see an angry woman walking towards them. From behind, she might have appeared pretty with her curly blonde hair and curved frame, but when she turned around to show off crooked teeth, caked on make-up and a large, black unibrow, it would normally send any man running, especially when paired with her horrible temper.

"Marybeth," the two men managed to squeak out. They exchanged glances with each other, surprised that they both knew the woman.

"You got tricked too?" Rin asked.

"She looked amazing from behind," Jean answered, practically crying, "And I used one of my pick-up lines before she turned around. I was stuck after that until we left port a year ago. You?"

"Same," Rin sighed in shame and defeat.

"How horrible you both are!" Marybeth screeched at them once she had reached them, "Making a girl like myself wait a whole year to come back to town! Do you even know how hard it is for me to be with men at sea?!"

"Um…what?" they both replied.

"Don't you remember? You both poured out your love for me before you left! Vowing to come back for me once you've made a name for yourself on the ocean! And I didn't just have one man pining after me, but two! Oh, how it hurt a poor girl's heart to wait for two men! What if you didn't come back alive at all?! Such romance on the seas!"

Jean and Rin exchanged glances again, remembering things quite differently when they had managed to get away from the woman. They stepped away from her for a moment to discuss their next plan of action.

"What the hell do we do?" Jean whispered harshly, "She's obviously out of her mind!"

"I say we just outright make a run for it."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just tell her the truth?"

"Well, you can do that if you like, but I've already received one black eye for today and I'd rather not have another one."

"I think I'll stick to telling her the truth. I don't want to have to deal with this each time I come to this town."

"Suit yourself," Rin shrugged, "But I'm sticking with the running plan."

Jean cleared his throat as the two men stood back up and turned to face the woman with a serious face, "Marybeth," he began.

"Yes Jean?"

"I must be honest with you. I do not have any feelings towards you whatsoever and I think it's just better that we see other people…not that we were really dating to begin with, you see."

Marybeth stood in silence for a long moment, causing the two men to wonder if she was actually taking the news like a civil person. Though, an aura of fire and anger burst out from behind her, her hair waving outwards like the snakes of Medusa. Jean and Rin both instantly shouted in horror in response before taking off at full speed back towards the guild, Marybeth hot on their heels.

"Make a fool of me will you?!" she shouted.

"We're sorry!" both men shouted in reply, barely managing to keep a step ahead of her.

The running trio quickly made their way past the café that Ajax and the others sat outside of, just finishing up their meal. Jean and Rin we're still screaming as they shot past the group with Marybeth still shouting after them. The mages in the café stared at the running group with wide eyes, unsure of what was going on.

"Um…" Haruna began, "Is that how men get girlfriends?"

"Obviously not!" Sho shouted.

"Ignore them," Ajax sighed, knowing he was going to need to talk to the two men when they returned to the guild about their womanizing, "They're bad influences."

"But isn't Jean S-Class now? Shouldn't I look up to someone like that?" Haruna continued.

"Obviously not!" Sho repeated.

"Just finish your food," Mac intervened, "And if those two ever try to hit on you, just give them a good punch to the gut."

"Really? That sounds kinda painful."

"That's the point," Mac answered with a devilish smile.

"If you say so," Haruna shrugged.

Ajax and Mac sighed in relief when she let the subject go and finished eating her dinner with Squall.

**. : + : .**

Madmartigan scowled at the black smoke billowing out of the bar he had just been in an hour beforehand, "Tch, damn brats," was all he said as he began making his way into the charred building, pulling his hat down slightly by the point of his silver hook.

"Captain!" one of his men called out, "Are you really going in there? The building is about to fall!"

Madmartigan simply ignored him, already knowing that any reply he were to give would come out nastier than usual. Besides, it would take more than a falling building to stop him or take him out at that point. Blackstroker's map was still up in his room and there was no way he would leave that behind. He was just happy that he had been smart enough to have one of his men put a protective spell around it to keep it from getting damaged by water, fire or any other elements.

The captain pushed the front door open, watching it easily fall to the ground in burnt pieces when he did so. He then made his way inside, ignoring the smoke that instantly covered him when he walked in. He had been through worse things than some old smoke. He saw a plethora of wood pieces still burning away, their smoldering lights creating a path for him through the bar. He could hear glass break under the weight of his boots, but he paid the wasted liquor bottles no mind as he made his way towards the stairs. He stared up at them with another scowl, knowing that they would be fairly weak after the fire.

"Maybe I should have let Domingo get the map instead," he mumbled, thinking about the fact that his first mate was much leaner than himself. He sighed, knowing it was too late to go back out now, and began making his way upstairs. A few of the stairs he stepped on either cracked under his weight or completely broke apart, but he managed to make it to the top of the steps in decent time. He turned left to head back towards his room, finding the area upstairs not as in as bad of shape as the bottom bar area. He quickly made his way to his room and threw open the door. Everything appeared to be the way he left it, aside from the smell of smoke having now taken over the area. He stepped into the room, his boots thumping against the floor until he came to a stop in front of the bed. He was in the middle of reaching for the map when he finally realized that it was no longer on the bed where he had left it, "What the hell?" he mumbled as he began to look around the room for the map. At first his searching was quick but calm, though after a few minutes of rummaging through the room, it became frantic and angry. Objects began flying across the room and even out the window. He ripped the sheets off the bed before completely flipping it over. He dumped the desk over, all of its contents spreading across the floor. Everything was either ripped, broken or completely torn apart by the time he was finished, "Where is it?!" he shouted so loudly that even his men outside of the building had flinched from the anger that filled his voice. Booming footsteps could be heard running down the hallway and stairs of the building until Madmartigan emerged from the smoke, causing a cloud of the black substance to plume out around him from his quick movements. Black smudges were across his face along with another deep and angry scowl. His men backed away from him, too afraid that they might get punched by their captain in his fit of rage, "DOMINGO!" he roared.

"Must be pretty mad for you to use my full name, boss," a man said as he easily moved through the group. This thirty-two year old man was named Domingo Barton, though he was mostly known through the crew as Mingo or even the captain's dog if they wanted to piss him off. The man was much leaner than his captain, though he still had corded muscles, strong arms and a toned chest. His platinum blonde hair was spiky and stuck straight up with a few smaller pieces falling into his golden eyes, his hair giving him just a bit of extra height to his slightly shorter 5'9" height. He wore black cargo pants that were tucked into combat boots with multiple straps and buckles that reached his mid-calf. He wore a pair of specialized fingerless gloves along with a rather long, crimson leather trenchcoat. The coat ended at his ankles and it had a single, brown leather strap that crossed his chest. The rest of his chest was bare, aside from black tribal tattoos that began at his collarbones and traveled down both arms.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with your stupid comments," Madmartigan snapped, becoming red in the face from anger, "The map is gone!"

"What do you mean it's gone?" Mingo asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"It's exactly what it sounds like! The map is fucking gone!"

"Well obviously it didn't burn up in the fire. It has that enchantment on it. And everyone from the crew and the bar ran out of the building once the fire started."

"The fire!" the captain yelled, "Those little brats! They started all that commotion to get the map! That fucking guild took my map!" he continued shouting, becoming angrier and angrier at the current situation, especially since he had just come back from the sailing guild, "I was just there! God dammit!"

"Looks like waving that map around really wasn't such a good idea, boss," Mingo smirked.

Madmartigan stared him down for a long moment before turning and slamming his fist right into the side of the burnt building. The building instantly cracked and crashed to the ground under the force of his punch. Most of the crew stared at their captain's natural strength with wide eyes while Mingo continued to wear his smirk, completely unfazed by Madmartigan's strength, "I don't know why you think this is such a great time to be making damn jokes!"

"We can always go get the map back, right?" Mingo shrugged, "It's not like a fleet that big can move quickly," he said, having seen the size of Storm's Helm once or twice before, "Although, we're not even sure if they have the map. Could just be a coincidence that their mages were at the bar during that time."

A gunshot suddenly went off, Mingo having to move to the side quickly to dodge the bullet. The blonde turned to see the crew's sharpshooter smirking smugly at him, causing Mingo to glare at him.

"I thought I might have been able to get you this time, mutt," the man smiled widely now, showing off a mouth filled with yellow teeth, Mingo knowing that his breath would smell heavily of liquor if he was standing close enough to him. The twenty-five year old's full name was Daniel Sierra. He stood much taller than Mingo at 6'3" with a runner's build and his skin was much tanner as well. His greasy, black hair reached down to his shoulders and his right eye was a dull gray-blue color while his left eye was covered by a white eye patch with a black skull on it. He wore dark blue jeans held up with a brown belt with a black skull buckle. The jeans were tucked into brown, laced boots and he wore a white button-up shirt that he left completely undone with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Around his waist was a holster belt that held four specialized handguns. Two guns were on either side of his hips while the other two were situated on the front and back of the belt, "Ya know, with you joking and all. Guess your senses are still top notch."

"I wouldn't be the first mate otherwise, Daniel," Mingo said lowly. He had never liked the man since the day the two met and Daniel was always trying to take his position as first mate away from him. Mingo was just glad that their captain had a more level head than the sharpshooter that stood before him. There was a reason that Madmartigan had picked him over Daniel to stand by his side and Daniel was too bitter to let the captain's decision go. Though, instead of griping about it to the captain, Daniel always chose to take his anger out on Mingo.

"Keep talking while you can, mutt," Daniel said, turning to the still fuming captain, "I've confirmed that Storm's Helm does have the map."

"How the hell do you know that?" Madmartigan asked.

"I followed you when you took that girl back to the guild. Ya know, just in case something happened," he answered, smirking over at Mingo, "Something your first mate should have been doing."

"Stop your petty arguments for one damn second and tell me about the map!" Madmartigan shouted, causing the other two men to wear serious faces as they turned to look at their captain again.

"After you left, two of the mages gave that woman in charge the map. It was the real thing too. They read the clue and everything and now they plan to go hunt down the treasure," Daniel explained.

"Dammit!" Madmartigan yelled, "We're going there now to get it!"

"Wait a minute," Mingo called out before the entire crew could go running off for a fight, "Did they figure out the first clue?"

"Seemed like it," Daniel answered, "They figured out enough to know where to go for the first clue."

"Then I propose we let them figure the clues out for us, or at least this first one," Mingo said, "Let them do a bit of the hard work."

Madmartigan thought about the new idea for a moment, "We can't tail them closely or else they'll figure out that we're watching them, but I want someone to be able to keep a close eye on them," he said. He looked to Mingo for a moment, knowing he would be able to trust him above anyone else in his crew, but he wanted him on the boat with himself for now. He inwardly sighed at who he was about to ask to keep close watch on the guild, knowing that the man loved money and the things that money could buy above all else, but he had the necessary skills to keep an eye on the guild, "Daniel. I want you to follow them."

"Really? Not your precious mutt?" Daniel smirked.

"Don't let this go to your head, you idiot," Madmartigan growled, "You just happen to be able to keep a close eye on them from a far distance. But if at all they figure out that you're tailing them, you better get in there, get the map and get out of there. I want to deal with that guild as little as possible, do you hear me?"

"You afraid of them or something?"

"Is that what I said?!" Madmartigan shouted, causing Daniel to go silent, "Don't underestimate them, Daniel. They may not be pirates or the Navy, but if you mess with them, they won't hold back. I know. I've seen it first hand. So don't be going out of your way for a fight, got it?!"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it," Daniel answered.

"Good," the captain said, "We'll be close enough for you to return and relay information once they leave port. Now piss off and lay low until we leave."

Daniel nodded at him and began following many of the other crew members back towards their ship at port. Mingo, though, stayed behind a moment to speak with the captain.

"So," Mingo began when it was just the two of them, "You've battled against Storm's Helm before?"

Madmartigan was quiet for a long moment as he looked down at his silver hook, "Yes. Against a man named Duke Ramirez."

Mingo looked down at his hook with him, a surprised look on his face, "I have to say I'm a little shocked that you didn't try to get revenge on that guild when you took that girl back to them. They took your hand, didn't they?"

"You don't know the whole story," Madmartigan answered, strangely quiet, "I took something from him too."

"What would that be?"

Madmartigan went quiet again, not bothering to answer him this time. He turned from the area, his coat billowing out behind him. He took a few steps before he stopped and glanced back at Mingo from over his shoulder, "Let's just hope that Daniel heads my warning. That woman, the guild master, she had the same look in her eyes as he did all those years ago."

With that, Madmartigan walked away from the area, leaving Mingo even more confused than when their conversation began.

* * *

**A/N: **There we are! Hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Domingo 'Mingo' Barton - XLil MEkoX**

**Daniel Sierra - ThePriceOfLight**

So I finally got this finished! I had those first two scenes written for a few days and that last scene was just bugging me since I was having a hard time getting it started. But after talking some things out with my Beta (thanks again!), things finally started rolling again. And I even got to introduce two of the main crew members instead of the one I had planned originally! So a big plus for me! And for you readers as well!

I had also planned for one more scene after that last one. But that one with Madmartigan just ended so nicely! Can you all tell that I was laughing manically at the end there?! Haha! Dangling that small bit of information in front of you and leaving you to wonder about it just like Mingo! It was too perfect not to! Muwhahahahahahaha!

Ahem…

So needless to say, that's where I decided to stop the chapter since I felt like adding something after it would take away from that moment. So some things got switched around while writing this and we'll make our way back to our lovely guild in the next chapter! Probably back out at sea now and heading to Caelum!

On another note, I have openings for the Naval Forces still going on as well. I have the Admiral and all four Vice Admirals spots filled at this time. Though, each Vice Admiral will have two Captains and spots for those are still open. I have one under the Eastern VA and one under the Northern VA filled, so that leave six spots open for them. If you would like to send one in, please PM which spot you would like and if you would like some information on a VA or the Admiral, like personality info and such, to help make your character. I have a counter in my profile again, so please check that out before sending one in and I will let you know there as well which areas have been taken for the Captains, so north, east, south and west. Also as per usual, don't send me in any type of Slayer. I'm even thinking about an assistant position that will work directly for the Admiral, but I'm still up in the air about that one. I'll let you all know if I do that. Now, I will say that I would like the western and southern Captains filled in first as they will be making the first appearances with their VAs in the story before we see the eastern and northern groups. And lastly, I would appreciate it if you all don't send in characters with Water/Ice Magic, Wind/Air Magic or Strengthening Magic (meaning like powering up the body physically) as I have enough of these types between the guild, pirates and Naval Forces.

Phew! I think that should be it!

So onto those lovely reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed the last chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **^.^ Glad you liked that scene with Lance and the others! I thought it would be good for him to start yelling at the pirates right in the middle of their bar, lol. Yeah, Madmartigan has to have some skills to be captain. Though, it may take some time before we see everything he can do. And yep! A treasure hunt! And I'll be interested to see if you all can figure out the clues with them during this arc as well, so keep trying! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you liked the chapter! And that line from Isaak, lol! Seems a lot of people liked it as well. And don't worry! Mia will appear again soon! I was gonna try to sneak her into this chapter with Hagi, but I couldn't think of anything interesting enough and then that ending scene happened with Madmartigan and I just didn't know how to squeeze her in anymore. But you should see her next chapter! Just keep a look out, lol! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **Nope! His name isn't a joke. That's legit his name, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **I did update! And I'm glad you enjoyed the update, lol! I'm also happy to hear that Tazz is turning out well for you too! She's tons of fun to write, especially with those boys! And your feeling about the Black Skulls was right! And Nanami does care for her rival…even if she doesn't want to show it, lol. But she's got a good heart overall, so worrying about Tazz comes with that, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **^.^ I'm actually really happy to hear that Cordelia is turning out like Luffy! That what I'm aiming for somewhat for her. Not entirely, but certain parts of his personality. But I'm glad you're excited for things to come with this arc and the seven villains! I'm super excited about it too! And we'll see if references pop up from One Piece in this. Sometimes that ends up happening without me actually meaning to, so we might get lucky with something like that eventually, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed that fight scene! I was really happy to be able to write one since I knew this chapter was going to have a bit more character interaction and information going on. But yeah, at least they now have the treasure map and can get things started. And with each clue, it should get more and more action packed! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **LOL, yep Nanami does care about her rival in the end! Yeah, they weren't supposed to burn down the building, but well, you know how things get out of hand, lol. Well of course Isaak would have that smooth catch! He is a natural after all! But yep, Cordelia got to have her first stare down with an enemy! And so many more to come! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Yeah, I'm sure Tazz will be giving those boys a hard time for leaving her alone in the burning bar like that, lol. I've been wanting to do that barrel surfing scene for a while, just had to find the right time for it. But yeah, because of it, Cordelia ended up in Isaak's arms, lol. But I'm glad you liked that bit at the end with Devin as well. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **LOL! Captain Watson! That really made me laugh when I read that. ^.^ I like it! And for that Naval assistance, as stated in the notes, check out my profile to see what's currently open if you'd like to send a character in! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **^.^ Glad you enjoyed the chapter so much! And I gotta say that I've secretly been shipping Nanami and Securus since they first interacted, lol. So I'm glad someone is on the same page with me on that one since I wasn't sure how that one would work out. Though, I do suppose it's a bit early to start solidifying relationships since I'm still getting a feel for everything, so we'll see how it all goes! I think Cordelia makes Eli's life just as hard as he makes hers, lol. But yeah, thankfully we've got Seth in the middle of them to keep the peace if they get too out of hand. And I figured you would like that Isaak and Cordelia moment when he caught her, lol. Ace is just so amazing! But now he's gone and I have no idea when he'll be showing back up. And seeing on how I like him, it'll probably be a while before he does. -.- It somehow works out like that a lot. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Glad you liked that opening scene! And we haven't even delved into Securus's magic yet! We're just scratching the surface with him, much like the rest of the guild, lol. But I'm glad I was able to catch you a bit off guard with Tazz's magic since it is different than what her personality leads you to believe she would have. And I enjoyed that Hacky Sack magic myself when I received it for Rio. And yes, it was very much like something from Jackass when Eli got Seth to barrel surf with him, lol. Isaak is such a natural with the flirting, so it makes him that much more suave when he actually tries at it, lol. Yeah, that quote is definitely from life experiences, lol. And you even rhymed in that 'Great…' line! Wasn't sure if you planned it that way or not, but I found it amusing! But I'm happy that you loved the chapter! And I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

**LightandDarkHeart - **LOL! Well I'm glad you enjoyed that barrel surfing scene! I'm also glad you liked the way the map turned out and how they have to solve the clues and everything. I thought it would make things interesting that way and it seems you all liked it too. Yep! Another Ace fan! Although, now I have to wait for him to show up again. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

That should be it for this chapter!

I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	12. Surprise Attack!

**A/N: **Haha! A new chapter already? I think so! We'll call this a double feature since a chapter was just released yesterday!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Surprise Attack!**

**April 9, X792 – Morning**

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Kato hissed in pain, sitting on one of the beds in the infirmary.

"It's barely been a day since we left port and you've already managed to get hurt," Jack sighed, moving the redhead's hands from his nose in order to press a bag of ice to the wounded area, "You really ought to be more careful. You're lucky that I was able to stock up on medical supplies the other night while we were stopped."

"I don't need to hear another lecture from you, Doc," Kato snapped, obviously irritated from the pain and the embarrassment that came with the busted nose.

"Clearly you do," Jack retorted, "What happened anyways?"

It was then that Zhuue popped up from her seat with a large smile. She pointed at Kato and then to herself to indicate that she was pretending to be him. She walked around with her chest puffed out in arrogance, much like the redhead did often. She then pointed to what was supposed to be another person, dropped her hand down to show a short height and then laughed much like Kato would. She then dipped down to be the short person he was laughing at and then punched the air. She then jumped back into being Kato and held her nose before falling over and rolling on the ground.

"I see," Jack said with a frown, "So you made fun of Mia for being short again. Then she got mad and punched you."

"How the hell did you even get all of that from…that?!" Kato shouted, pointing at the smiling woman who was now sitting back in her seat.

"I don't think Zhuue is all that hard to understand," Jack said, looking over at the woman with a soft smile, "She's actually quite easy to read. But the charade show is always amusing to watch, right Zhuue?"

The blonde answered him with a rather cute smile and a simple nod.

"Besides, she was right, wasn't she?" Jack asked, now looking back at the younger man.

"Maybe," he mumbled, looking away from the pair.

Jack sighed again as he stood and walked back towards the main counter where he kept most of his supplies. He looked over the different medicines he had until he found the one he needed. He pulled out a clean syringe and stuck the end of the needle into the liquid, filling the vile with the blue substance, "You should really learn how to refrain from making fun of Mia's height," Jack said as he walked back over to Kato, "It only results in you ending up here. I don't want to keep wasting medicine on you," he said with a frown before sticking the man with the needle none too gently.

"OW! I thought doctors were supposed to be gentle?!"

"Well, you're one to keep playing my patience," Jack grunted, "I had to take care of Devin and Cordelia a few days ago because of you causing problems again. My medicine is meant to be used in emergency situations, not because some boy wanted to start a fight. I'm sure our new guild master would agree, considering how much medical supplies cost and how long we're on the ocean between ports. It's not something I like to waste. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah. I understand," Kato mumbled again, "Geez, first it's Cordelia I have to deal with and now you. I don't ever get any slack."

"Then maybe you should try changing to better yourself," Jack said, taking the needle out, cleaning the area and placing a small bandage on it quickly, "You want to become stronger, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then find a reason to become stronger," Jack stated, finally giving the man a small smile.

"Do you have a reason to fight?"

Jack was quiet for a moment as he turned to look back at Zhuue again. Jack chuckled softly while Kato felt a sweat drop run down his head when they saw the woman had stuck enough cotton balls on her face to create a fluffy white beard. She looked back over at them when she realized she had been caught, quickly dropping the cotton ball in her hands and returning to her seat like nothing had happened, the fake beard still on her face.

"Yes, I have a reason to fight," Jack finally answered, "So you should find one too. How do you expect to become stronger when you have no one to protect? Don't you want to protect the guild?"

"Yes."

"Then make that your first reason. From there, you'll find more and more reasons to fight and become stronger. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good boy," Jack smiled softly again as he patted him on the head, "The medicine I gave you will heal your nose quickly, but you should keep that ice pack on it for a little while longer in order to help with the swelling."

"I will. Thanks, Doc," Kato smiled as he jumped up off of the bed and began to make his way out of the infirmary.

"Oh, and Kato," Jack called out before he completely disappeared, "I suggest you stop starting pointless fights. If you do it again, you never know what kind of medicine I'll actually give you."

Kato paled at the threat, knowing the man could make potions that could hurt people just as easily as heal them. All he could do was nod at the doctor before running out of the room.

Jack smirked at his reaction before turning back towards Zhuue to see her still trying to act innocent with the cotton balls on her face. He started laughing again as he moved over towards her to start taking the cotton off her face, "Don't tell me you're going to start wasting my supplies too?"

Zhuue quickly shook her head in response. She then moved her hands to either side of his mouth to make him smile wider.

"I suppose I was being a bit hard on Kato," he said, gently moving her hands away, "I know you just wanted to make the air in here lighter again, but he needed to hear things like that. You know that, right?" he asked, moving his hand down towards her scarf, "Everyone should have someone to protect like that."

Zhuue suddenly frowned and laid a hand on top of Jack's to keep him from removing the scarf.

"Sorry," he said quickly, "I didn't mean to bring up things that make you sad. How about we go grab some milkshakes then? My treat."

Zhuue's frown instantly turned into another smile. She popped up off the seat and bopped her index finger on his nose to indicate that she agreed to his suggestion before trying to run out of the room.

"Wait a minute," he called out to her, "Let me finish taking the cotton off your face before we go," he said. Zhuue blushed in embarrassment, quickly stopping to let him finish cleaning her up before they left. She only blushed darker when she heard him chuckling at her again.

**. : + : .**

"You shouldn't let Kato get you so upset, Mia," Hagi said, looking over at the brunette woman across from him. The two were currently sitting on the middle ship with a plate of mochi ice cream sitting between them that Hagi had paid for in order to get Mia in a better mood. It clearly hadn't been working since she still sat with her arms crossed, not even having touched the strawberry mochi she loved so much.

"He called me short!"

"Well, you are short, sweetheart."

"I don't need you saying that too!"

Hagi sighed, knowing the only reason she hadn't punched him for his comment was because of his status as one of her best friends, "You really need to get over that short complex. You're going to end up punching the wrong person one day."

"Stop calling me short!"

"Fine, fine," he said, waving off her anger. He supposed it was good that she had only punched Kato instead of completely throwing him off of the ship like she had done before, "But eat some of these before they get all melted and gross," he said, pushing the plate of mochi towards her. Mia eyed the cold treats for a moment before finally giving in and grabbing a pink one. He smiled in relief to see that she was finally beginning to settle down from her anger.

"You have to admit that it was a good punch though," Ace said, suddenly appearing in between the two, "Oh! Mochi!" he grinned, grabbing for one of the coffee flavored ones.

"Where did you just come from?! And who said you could have one?!" Hagi yelled, pulling the plate away from him before the man could grab a second treat, "And don't go bringing that situation up again! I just got her to calm down!"

"What can I say? I know a good punch when I see one," Ace shrugged before looking over at Mia, "You should learn how to hone that punching power in battle better, Mia."

Mia quickly blushed in response, looking down at the table, "It's only because I was mad. I really shouldn't be hurting my guildmates like that. Besides, I have my Air Magic and scythe to use in battle."

"Well, if you ever want a quick run down in basic hand to hand combat, hit me up," Ace smiled at her, "I help Jay out all the time with swordsmanship, but I know how to fight physically too. Dad made sure both Cordi and I knew how as a back up in case our magic ever fails. Someone cute like you should know how to throw a decent punch. Ya know, just in case something was to ever happen."

"You would really help me out?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" he grinned down at her. Though, his attention was quickly pulled away from her when he saw Hagi staring at them with hearts in his eyes, "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh no," Mia sighed, "He's daydreaming about us being together."

"Being together?"

"As in dating," Mia clarified.

"What?!" he shouted, looking over at Hagi, "Stop that right now!" he yelled, beaming the blonde in the head with a mochi. Though, it didn't seem to have any affect at all, "Look, I was just asking if she wanted help training! That's it! Way to go and make it all weird!" he huffed before storming off.

"Hagi, I think you really upset him," Mia frowned, staring after Ace for a moment before turning back to her friend.

"But you two would look so cute together!"

"You think anyone who is single would look cute together with someone else who is single," Mia sighed.

"But you like him, don't you?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Well, yes, of course I like Ace, but not in the way you're insinuating," she answered, "I really hope you stop trying to pair me up with people when they're around me. It really seems to upset them when you don't think about how they might feel. I don't like seeing them upset like that."

"Ace is a big boy. He'll get over it," Hagi answered, "But if it really bothers you, then I'll try to stop, but I make no promises!"

"Thank you."

"So how about we try focusing on other people to pair up?"

Mia sighed in response, knowing that things would eventually lead to this, "Who did you have in mind?"

"I still want to set up Cordelia with Eli! They're too perfect together!"

Mia quickly made a face at that, "I really think you should leave that one alone for now. They already have enough complications after…well…you know."

"Why does everyone do that?!" Hagi exclaimed, becoming rather irritated by the way Mia stepped around the subject just like most of the guild did too, "It's not like that was a bad thing!"

"I know that, but it always gets Eli so riled up that no one wants to deal with it anymore."

"Well then, Eli needs to man up!"

"Who needs to man up?" a dark voice asked from behind Hagi.

The young blonde quickly turned to see Eli standing before him, fire beginning to roll off of him. Seth stood off to the side with a nervous smile on his face at what was about to happen. Hagi, though, wasn't at all bothered by the intimidating aura that the older man gave off, "You need to man up! Always getting so worked up by the mention of-"

"Hagi! Don't say it!" Mia shouted, knowing that it was bound to set Eli off.

Hagi simply ignored her though, "By the mention of Cordelia and Isaak having dated each other!"

A single moment of stillness passed through the group before a large pillar of red fire burst upwards off of Eli, "That punk didn't even know what he had before he let her go!" he roared, all common sense completely gone from his brain as his fire began to expand outwards, "For three years! Three years! Then he just let it go like it meant nothing!"

"Hagi! I told you not to say it!" Mia shouted, pulling the blonde away from the fire, "Now you're going to get him in trouble!"

"Good! Maybe someone will beat some sense into him!" Hagi yelled, clearly not caring about the current situation when relationships were in the mix.

"Alright buddy," Seth began, trying to approach Eli slowly, "Just calm down. We don't need the ship burning down."

"That asshole just threw her away!"

"We both know that's not what happened," Seth replied, "Now just chill out for a bit."

"You want me to chill out?!" Eli shouted, showing no signs of calming down as his red flames turned into blue ones, creating a cold and freezing fire.

"Well, at least it stopped burning a hole through the ship," Seth sighed, "But we better get you calmed down before Cordelia shows up. She's really not going to be pleased now," he said, already picturing Cordelia's less than amused face, "Chimera Shift: Polar Bear!" he shouted. Glowing could be seen through the material of his right shorts leg where the polar bear claw tattoo was located on his thigh. His body was soon covered in snow white fur and the cold temperatures that Eli was admitting no longer bothered him. He walked up to the other man and attempted to grapple him from behind in order to hold him down, but Eli easily pulled away from him.

"Don't touch me!" Eli shouted.

"Then calm down!" Seth boomed, his voice traveling across the ship. He normally wasn't one for shouting like that, but Eli's antics were becoming rather annoying and someone was bound to get hurt if he didn't calm down, "You're letting your emotions control your fire again and it's bound to blow out of proportion if you don't calm down!"

"It ain't my fault that the little matchmaker had to go and bring up something like that!"

"I know it's not," Seth answered, feeling a twinge of sympathy for his friend, "But you're going to have to get over it eventually. Yeah, they dated for three years, but that was also three years ago! I don't know why you're still so bothered by it!"

"Because it was Marzell!" he yelled, "Of all the people for her to choose! It had to be him!"

"Honestly," a smooth voice interrupted them. The two men looked over to see Isaak sitting at a nearby table, frowning at the fire mage, "I can't believe you're still acting like a child over something like this. It's really annoying."

"Marzell! This is your fault!"

Isaak simply rolled his eyes in response. While he liked to tease Eli and get him a bit riled up, he disliked it when Eli outright threw a tantrum like he was now, "You really are a moron, you know that? Stop acting like a fool. At least Hagi had the guts to tell you to act like a man already."

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"I think this is really bad timing on your part, Isaak," Seth said, "Seeing you is only bound to make him even angrier."

"Well then, maybe it'll get him to do what he should have a long time ago," Isaak retorted, sending a sharp glare over at Eli, "I didn't really want to let her go, I hope you know. You're just too big of an idiot and ladies man to see why I did it."

Eli stopped replying with words and moved to try and attack Isaak. Though, he didn't get very far when Seth tackled him to the ground. The two men struggled back and forth for a few minutes until Seth managed to get Eli in a choke hold. He kept him locked in place until his fire finally began to fade and he was on the verge of passing out. He finally let him go, Eli taking in large gasps of air.

"You finally calm down?" Seth asked, helping Eli to stand back up. Though, he continued using his magic until he knew that Eli wouldn't try anything else.

Eli glared over at Isaak, but a loud shout stopped him before he could say anything.

"What the hell is going on?!"

All three men turned to see Cordelia glaring daggers at all of them. The three men flinched back slightly by that look, all too afraid to answer her for a moment.

"Well?! Someone better damn well answer me!"

Eli opened his mouth to explain what happened, but Isaak quickly intervened.

"We were sparring against each other," he said in an even tone, "Obviously things got out of hand."

"Obviously!" Cordelia snapped, "Why weren't you using the ships designated for sparring then?!"

"We just got ahead of ourselves. Sorry for causing you so much trouble."

Cordelia stared at the three men, hearing Eli and Seth say a quick sorry as well. She then looked back to Isaak, knowing that what he was telling her was a lie. Whatever had really happened, he was keeping it from her. She had no idea why Isaak or Eli would protect each other like that, but for now all she could do was go along with it, "Fine," she grunted, "But I expect the deck to be fixed by the end of the day. Got it?!"

"Yes ma'am," all three men replied.

"One day," she began in an annoyed tone, "I just want one damn day where you all don't go breaking shit! I can't just make money appear, you know! You're lucky that we have a metal user and a wood user on this guild to help repair things! And seeing on how this deck is metal, looks like you all get to go grovel to Gordon until he decides to help you out! Good luck with that!"

"Like you're really one to talk about breaking things," Eli grumbled.

He quickly earned a bop on the head from both Seth and Isaak, "Now's not the time for that!" the growled at him.

"And don't go breaking more things when you all work together to fix this ship!" Cordelia continued, "I mean, really, you should be able to get along for that long right? It's not like that's going to-"

She was suddenly cut off by the sound of a gunshot going off. A black bullet suddenly whizzed by her, Cordelia barely having enough reaction time to move slightly to the left. The bullet still managed to graze her cheek, leaving behind a red line with blood beginning to drip from it.

"What the hell is going on now?!" she shouted, "Twin Pistols!" she yelled. Though, the guns wouldn't appear in her hands from her re-quip space. She tried to call them forth again followed by several other of her weapons, but nothing would appear, "What the hell?!"

Another gunshot went off, a second black bullet traveling downwards and hitting Seth in the back of his right leg. His whole body clenched up in pain as his magic instantly disappeared. He looked down at his hands in surprise, and like Cordelia, he tried to using his magic again. Though, it had the same results. He was unable to transform into any of his animal forms.

"Take cover!" Cordelia ordered, not wanting anyone else to get hit by the bullets, "Zinnia!" she shouted, hoping that the woman would be somewhere nearby.

"I'm here!" Zinnia announced, running up towards the guild master.

"I want shields up on all sides!"

"You want me to use the Ultimate Defense?"

"Yes," Cordelia answered, "I know it takes up a lot of power from you, but we don't know where the bullets are coming from and I don't want anyone else getting hurt," she explained, looking over at Seth's bleeding leg.

"You've got it!" Zinnia said, running back towards the middle of the deck. She was thankful she was already on the middle vessel as it would make it easier for her to surround the entire guild. She sat down Indian style once she was in place and took a calming breath, "Shield Make: Ultimate Defense!" she shouted, magic power bursting from her and out towards all sides of the guild. Huge, clear shields rose up all around the guild until the four sides all met at a point above the guild, "Shields in place!" Zinnia yelled over towards Cordelia.

"Thank you," she answered, "Where is Securus?! And someone get me a damn gun!"

"You called?" Securus said, appearing next to her.

"Good, you're here," Cordelia said, turning to look at him, "I need you to find who's doing this and take them out."

"Sure thing," he answered, moving away towards one of the crow's nest to get a higher point of view.

"Where's a damn gun already?!" Cordelia yelled.

"Here you are, my lovely Cordelia," Ingrid grinned, calling forth a simple hand gun for the guild master and handing it over. Though, she quickly realized the seriousness of the situation when Cordelia didn't play into her teasing, "Will Securus be able to take out the shooter with the shields up?"

"Yes," Cordelia answered, checking the gun to make sure it was fully loaded and the safety was off on it, "The Ultimate Defense lets things out of its shields but nothing can get in."

"That's quite convenient."

"Quite," Cordelia agreed.

Things went quiet then as the guild stared up and outwards, trying to see the person who had shot at them.

Securus had found the closet crow's nest to climb up, finding Squall sitting in it, "Sorry little one," he said as he pushed her over, "But I need to take over your hiding place for a bit."

Squall simply nodded at him, knowing now wasn't the time to make any arguments about someone invading her space.

"Hawkeye," Securus said in an even tone, his eye glowing bright gold once again. He zoomed in and out all around the area about them. He was surprised that someone was actually shooting at them out in the ocean like this, but he supposed there were a few rock formations sticking out of the water for someone to hide on and target them. More and more time passed without seeing anything and Securus was beginning to believe that whoever had been shooting at them was gone. Though, the slightest movement to his right caught his eye. Up on a high rock ledge, one high enough for someone to shoot down at people on the guild decks, he managed to see the end of a white shirt fly upwards from the wind, "Found you," Securus smirked, "Take A Knee," he said as he dropped down to one knee and lined up his rifle. He continued using his Hawkeye spell to use as a scope while his Take A Knee spell flooded his gun with magic. He let out one steadying breath before he pulled the trigger. This released an overly large shot of magic that traveled fast right towards the rocks where he saw the shirt. In seconds, the shot passed right through the rock formation with a white hot hiss, leaving a rather large, gaping hole in it. The rock was still burning with his magic when a man suddenly stood up on the half destroyed ledge with a shocked look on his face, "You're mine," Securus said as he loaded the rifle with his regular .45 caliber bullets.

The man on the ledge aimed the gun he had been using previously to shoot Cordelia and Seth at Securus and pulled the trigger once, but the black bullet easily bounced off of the shield that Zinnia had up. This only caused Securus to smirk again as he finished loading the rifle and took aim at the man again. Before he began firing, he took in the Black Skull symbols on the eye patch and the belt buckle he wore.

"Time for you to either piss off or go down," Securus said as he began shooting off bullet after bullet at the man, watching him practically having to dance around to dodge each bullet. Soon enough, the man flicked Securus off before jumping down behind the rock formation. Securus figured that he had a boat hidden away behind it and he was proven correct when he saw the man paddling away quickly. Though, just to get one last laugh in and for harming two of his guildmates, one of them being his guild master no less, he shot off one last bullet right into the boat. A hole soon appeared through the bottom of the boat and Securus was fairly certain that he heard the man cursing at him as his paddling sped up before he completely disappeared out of sight.

Securus took a few more minutes to scan the area to make sure there weren't any other enemies out on the rocks. Once he was satisfied that it had only been the one man, he released his Hawkeye and put down his gun. He peered over at the young girl beside him, lighting a cigarette in the process, "Looks like all the bad guys are gone for now," he smiled over at her before beginning his climb back down to the deck. He wasn't surprised to see Cordelia in front of him in seconds with a concerned and angry look covering her face.

"So? Did you take care of them?"

"Yeah," he answered blowing out a line of smoke above her head, "It was only one man, but I chased him off."

"Good," Cordelia said, turning towards Zinnia, "You can drop the shields!"

Zinnia nodded at her and released her spell. Though, she had to stay sitting from the all the magic that was used up by implementing the Ultimate Defense. She suddenly found Ace behind her, helping her stay up in a sitting position rather than let her fall onto her back. She nodded a thank you back at him, receiving a simple nod from him as well.

"Why the hell was he shooting at as?" Ace asked, now looking up at his sister.

"I think I might know," Securus said before Cordelia could respond, "I saw a Black Skull symbol on him before he ran off. Looks like the Black Skulls know we have Blackstroker's map."

"Dammit!" Cordelia hissed, "I was hoping we'd be further along before they figured it out. Now we're gonna have to deal with them the entire treasure hunt!"

"Well, it wouldn't be very exciting if we didn't deal with pirates at some point, right?" Securus asked, looking down at her.

"I'd rather keep everyone safe."

"And you did that," he replied, "You thought quickly and kept everyone protected by the shields. Don't forget that you used to be S-Class as well. You know how to handle these things."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said. While she had been confident leading teams as an S-Class mage, it was different now that she had an entire guild to protect.

"It's not just me," Securus said, motioning towards the other mages on the deck, "Zinnia wouldn't have reacted so quickly with you if she didn't believe in you too. We all decided on this treasure hunt, knowing what kind of dangers we could run into. Have faith that we'll protect the guild just as much as you will yourself."

"You're rather encouraging today," Cordelia mentioned quietly, looking back up at him.

"Yeah, well, it seems that a new adventure with a new master sparked something in me," he shrugged, "But if you'll excuse me, I've done all the hard work I'm willing to today," he said before walking off to find a cool place to nap in.

Eli was soon in front of her, frowning at the line of blood that still covered her cheek, "We should get you and Seth to Jack to get fixed up and to see why you suddenly can't use your magic."

She nodded at him, "Ingrid!" she called out before she walked off with Eli, Isaak and Seth, the first two men helping Seth to walk to the infirmary. The brunette looked over towards the guild master just in time to see her gun being thrown back towards her, "Thanks," she said with a smirk.

Ingrid stared at her in slight surprise before her usual sly smile appeared on her lips, "Any time, my lovely Cordelia."

**. : + : .**

"So what's the deal, Jack?" Cordelia asked. Her cheek was cleaned up and had a bandage over it while Jack had dug out the bullet in Seth's leg and bandaged that up as well.

Jack stared at the solid black bullet he had taken from Seth's leg, using his Analyzing Magic to scan over it for a few minutes. He then scanned over Cordelia and Seth one last time before answering her, "It appears that the bullet used on the two of you has properties to cancel magic for a short time."

"Cancel magic?" Cordelia repeated, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yes," he said, "Even the slightest of scratches like the one on your cheek makes it so that a mage cannot use their magic for an allotted amount of time," he explained, seeing the worry on all four faces in the infirmary, "Not to worry though. Your magic will come back shortly like nothing had even happened."

"How long is shortly?" Seth asked.

"Give it about two hours."

"Two hours?!"

"Well, it's not like you're completely weak at the moment. You still have your physical strength on your side for the time being."

"I don't like this feeling," Cordelia grumbled, her nose scrunching up at the feeling of her magic being blocked, "I fell all…stuffed up. Like a really bad cold."

"That's to be expected," Jack nodded at her, "Just be patient and it will eventually fade."

"Don't you have some sort of potion to make this go away quicker?" Seth asked, disliking the disconnection from magic just as much as Cordelia.

"Unfortunately, no," Jack replied, "I would need to analyze the bullet more and the magic within it before I can make an antidote to it. You'll just have to wait it out the old-fashioned way."

Both Cordelia and Seth groaned in response.

Jack simply chuckled in response, "I'm sure you can think of something to do for two hours to keep your mind off of it."

Cordelia eyed the other three men in the room, "You all still have to fix the main deck. That should keep you occupied for a bit," she said as she stood up from the bed she had been sitting on, "And I suppose you'll need an extra hand to help out now since Seth has the wound on his leg."

"Yes, don't push it too much until it's fully healed," Jack stated.

"So I guess I can help you out a bit if you ask nicely," she said, looking straight at Eli.

"Why are you so focused on me?!"

"Because I'm sure whatever happened to the deck was pretty much your fault no matter what Isaak says otherwise."

"Just ask her, you idiot," Isaak snapped, "With her, we'll be able to get Gordon to help out much easier. He can say no to us, but not to his guild master."

Eli stared Isaak down for a long moment before he gave in with a groan. He turned to look back at Cordelia with a smile plastered onto his face, "Would you please help us fix the deck? It would mean a great deal, especially since Seth got hurt."

"Yeah, I suppose I could since you asked so nicely and all," she grinned, poking him in the cheek playfully, "Just let me go make sure we're on track for the first island of Caelum and then we can get to work."

Eli finally let a genuine smile grace his lips, playfully batting her hand away, "Thanks, Cor."

**. : + : .**

"Dammit!" Daniel shouted, having managed to plug up the boat with a large cork, "That's barely gonna last to the first island of Caelum! And there's no way I'm going back to the ship to get a new boat right now! Madmartigan would kill me for giving myself away already! And that mutt would never let me live it down!"

Daniel was mad at himself for jumping the gun with the guild, but the moment had been too perfect to pass up. The guild master had been right there in the open for him to take out. If he had done that, Madmartigan might have bumped him up to first mate finally! But then she went and dodged his bullet. He figured if he had already taken one shot, he might as well take a few more and put the guild on edge. They might know that the Black Skulls were hunting them down now, but at least they would be a bit paranoid about it.

"But that damn marksmen," Daniel grumbled, "I'll have to watch out for him. Though, he won't be any match for my Target Eye when I finally get a chance to use it. He'll be the first one I take out," he said with a wicked grin.

* * *

**A/N: **There we go! I hope you all enjoyed it!

That has to be one of the quickest chapters I've ever written, lol! But it practically just wrote itself. I really enjoyed getting to do that action scene with Daniel attacking the guild, so I hope the rest of you enjoyed it as well!

And the cat is finally out of the bag about Cordelia and Isaak! It'll be interesting to see what some of you think about that! LOL! I had thought about letting that fact be known in an earlier chapter and I had even thought about holding back that information for a bit longer, but I just couldn't take it anymore and the opportunity presented itself in this chapter, so I took it!

Also, there are two spots left for the Captains. One for the western area and one for the southern area. Same rules still apply that I talked about last chapter!

I don't have much else this chapter since I just updated yesterday, so I'll jump right into the reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever – **Glad to hear you're enjoying the story. And well, the guild is on the ocean, so there are bound to be similarities to other things, but it is still it's own story with its one issues going on. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 – **LOL! Yeah, I thought that was a good answer for Haruna too! The mouse named Rat got me too when I first read it. Haha! Yep, Jean probably does need some help in the flirting area of his life. But I'm glad that you enjoyed that scene with him, Rin and Marybeth! Yeah, trudging through that burnt build only to find that the map was gone really sent Madmartigan over the edge, especially after finding out that it was the guild that took the map. And I'm glad you enjoyed both Domingo and Daniel. Yeah, you definitely started using those cliffhangers, lol. I can only imagine the future ones you have planned. But hey, at least you got that bit about Cordelia and Isaak this chapter! Hope you enjoyed the chapter as well!

**Resmesh - **^.^ Glad to hear that you enjoyed that second scene with Marybeth and the boys! Rin and Jean worked too perfectly for it! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction – **Yep, definite tension within the crew between Mingo and Daniel. And they're just the first two out of the seven characters to be introduced for this arc for the Black Skulls! But I'm glad you enjoyed the scene with Mac, Ajax and the others. I really enjoyed that moment with Sho telling Haruna 'obviously not' myself! And the chase has definitely started now! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino – **Glad you enjoyed the chapter and the openings for the Naval Forces! Hope this was a quite enough update, lol! And I hope you enjoyed the new chapter as well!

**silverhawk88 – **CHA! Super glad to hear that Mac is turning out so well for you! I'm always a bit worried on how characters will turn out as I write them, so it's always good to hear when they're turning out well! I quite enjoy her attitude too, so it makes it really fun for me to write her. I had thought about having Mac take those guys out several times (because we both know she could do it), but I didn't wan to pass up the chance to show off Ajax's overprotective brotherly side. I promise she'll get her moment to shine in a fight soon this arc! And Madmartigan's past with the guild was one of those random ideas that just suddenly made itself known and it kind of makes me sad now. But we'll get to that eventually! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 – **Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! Yeah, Ajax has that big brother side to him, so I was really happy to be able to write that out in the chapter. And yeah, Rin and Jean pretty much brought that on themselves with Marybeth, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX – **Good to hear going back and forth between light hearted scenes and more serious scenes is turning out well! And I'm really happy that Ajax turned out so well for you in that chapter! I love that big brother side to him! I haven't decided how some of the guys will react to it, but I'm sure a few of them must tease him about it. Although, let's just hope none of them tried touching his hat, right? And that scene with Rin and Jean was totally inspired by Jack Sparrow getting slapped by those women! The original idea was for both of them to actually be smacked by Marybeth, but then, well, it just turned out the way it did, but I still quite liked it! And yep! I managed to get Mingo in there! He was the one I didn't think would be in it, but then he just snuck right in there! And I have to say, I get the feeling you used Vash from Trigun as inspiration for him, lol. That's all I could picture while writing him. Like seriously, I wanted to give him a box of doughnuts, lol! But yeah, he definitely has a rival with Daniel! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 – **Haha! That pick up line was so bad! Poor Jean! He needs lessons in flirting! But I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter and the competition between Jean and Rin! The fights are just starting in this chapter with Daniel's attack, so they're only bound to get more action packed from here on out! CHA! But yeah, I thought someone pointing out Jean's S-Class position and being chased off by Marybeth would be good, so I'm glad you liked that too! Haha! That last part of your review made me laugh too! Close enough! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart – **FOOLS! I seriously had that one line in Exalibur's voice for so long after I read your review, lol! But I'm glad that you enjoyed that scene with Rin and Jean! And always expect the unexpected when it comes to these scenes! And yep, always gotta have a good cliffhanger in my back pocket! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 – **Glad you enjoyed the scene with Jean and Rin! Seemed to be a favorite for everyone! Yeah, Ajax has a big brother side to him, so deep down he really is a big softie. And we got to see just how well Daniel did in a fight this chapter, but he did have the disadvantage with those shields being up. And in time we'll find out what exactly Madmartigan did against Duke! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 – **Yep, Ajax is a bit of a pushover, but that's mostly thanks to the brotherly side of him, lol. But he doesn't mess around if someone is messing with his guildmates! Glad you enjoyed that scene with Rin and Jean! Haha! They definitely 'impress' the guild with those flirting abilities of theirs. And glad to hear that you're liking the crew members so far. Five left to go now to introduce! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Saiyan God.101 - **^.^ Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And we'll see in time if you're feeling about Madmartigan is right or not! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

That should be it for this chapter!

I'll have the next one up soon!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	13. Van Black

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 13: Van Black**

**April 9, X792 - Early Afternoon**

"You should really consider yourself lucky," Gordon grumbled as he measured the burnt hole that Eli had created on the deck of the middle ship, "You managed to catch me in a good enough mood to help you out here."

"Good enough mood my ass," Cordelia retorted while her eye twitched in annoyance. Though, she felt a bit proud of herself when she saw the large knot on the metal mage's head that she had given him earlier, "You could have saved yourself that bump on your head if you had just listened to me the first time."

"You could have asked me like a normal person rather than tackling me from behind."

"Like you would have said yes if I had."

"I guess we'll never know."

"Do want a matching bump?"

"So those three are pretty useless, ya know," Gordon said, quickly changing the subject. The two looked over at Eli, Seth and Isaak. Seth was sitting in a chair with his injured leg propped up thanks to Mia becoming a mother hen and hovering over him. Eli and Isaak stood on either side of him, watching Gordon and Cordelia take care of the hole, "Didn't you order them to fix this hole? And now I'm the one cleaning up their mess."

"I suppose you're right," Cordelia sighed.

"Don't go agreeing with him!" Eli shouted.

"Shut up!" she snapped, turning and giving Eli his own knot on the top of his head.

"You seem more irritated than usual," Gordon mentioned.

"Yeah, well, I've got a giant melted hole in the middle of one of my ships, three men who can't even fix it even though they caused it, and I still can't use my magic right now thanks to that sniper or whatever! What if I end up exploding from magical back up?!"

"Can that really happen?!" Seth shouted.

"Of course it can really happen!" Cordelia continued, beginning to move around dramatically, "You don't just get shot with a magic bullet like that and not expect some sort of consequence!"

"Stop freaking him out!" Eli yelled, throwing a small ball of blue fire at her. It quickly spread across her shoulders and torso, freezing her in place.

"GAH! So cold!" she cried as she tipped over from the ice that now coated her top half.

Gordon paled at the sight while Isaak had started laughing. Mia was currently standing over a passed out Seth, fanning him quickly in hopes of bringing him back into consciousness.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Cordelia continued while she rolled around on the deck, "Stop, drop and roll! That's supposed to work, right?! Why isn't it working?!"

"Because it's not normal fire, you idiot," Eli said, finally managing to catch her and sit on her to keep her from moving again. He easily melted the ice off of her, smirking down at her, "Looks like you're gonna survive this time. Maybe you should thank your savior properly," he said, turning his smirk into a charming smile. That smile instantly caused a plethora of women around the area to swoon.

Cordelia, though, only felt her eye twitch in irritation again before she pushed him off of her. She added a second knot to his head before turning back to Gordon, "Yes, they are rather useless, aren't they?" she asked, fixing her coat back into place.

"Are we just gonna pretend that none of that just happened?" Gordon asked.

"What are you talking about?" she replied, a dark shadow covering her eyes.

"Nothing, nothing," he said quickly, not wanting to deal with an angry Cordelia, "So about fixing this hole," he said, changing subjects again, "It shouldn't be too hard to do, but I do have one question."

"What's that?"

"Does Kasra really have to be here to watch me do it?"

They both turned to see that Kasra was indeed sitting across from them in a rather plush chair with an expensive and colorful umbrella propped up above him. He had a glass vase of an orange colored tea next to him with a smaller glass next to it full of the same liquid, the glasses sitting on top of intricately carved, dark wooden table. The table also had a dark purple and green cloth splayed across it to keep the wood from being stained by the sweating glasses. Kasra relaxed fully back into the chair, crossing his legs and propping his head against one hand as he watched the scene in front of him carefully. A wide smile graced his face as he eyed all of Gordon's muscles, especially when the metal mage moved and they flexed.

"Oh, don't mind me," Kasra said, "I'm just enjoying the view."

Cordelia made a face while Gordon turned to the side and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I do believe standing like that will make it awfully hard for you to fix that hole," Kasra said, chuckling lightly.

"That does make it a bit awkward," Cordelia said.

"You think?!" Gordon shouted.

"Well, no matter," Cordelia said, grinning up at the metal mage, "The hole needs to get fixed and you already agreed to fixing it!"

"But what about him?!"

Cordelia simply shrugged in response, "It doesn't bother me much. I'm not the one he's mauling with his eyes."

"Wench!"

SMACK

"What was that?" Cordelia asked after smacking Gordon upside the head and creating a second knot on it.

"Tch, nothing," he grunted.

"Good, then get to work," she suddenly said with a smile before turning to Kasra, "And you enjoy his work."

"I suppose Ingrid is right," Kasra said, "You are quite the lovely new guild master."

Cordelia simply rolled her eyes in response, but she did pull a chair up next to him. Without saying anything and unsure of where it even came from, Kasra filled up a second glass with the cold tea and handed it over to Cordelia. She sniffed at it at first before both her and Kasra took a sip of it, both letting out a satisfied 'ahhh'. Though, Cordelia was fairly sure that Kasra had done it for a completely different reason from herself, considering Gordon had finally turned back to his work.

**. : + : .**

"What, pray tell, are you doing, Zipporah?" Alisa asked, standing just above the other woman. The two were currently standing behind a stack of boxes, watching Gordon fix the deck.

Zipporah fiddled with the beads on her braid nervously, "Nothing much, really."

"I find that doubtful when you have us hiding behind boxes," Alisa stated, "Why must we hide? It is not like you have not spoken with any of those people before."

"That's not the problem!" Zipporah hissed, "Now shush!"

"Do not shush me!"

"Please be quiet!" Zipporah cried as she slammed a hand to the woman's mouth, receiving a flat stare from her in response, "You're going to ruin my plan."

The two went still for a moment, Zipporah hoping that they hadn't been found out yet. She turned back to Gordon working on the deck still and the others sitting around watching him. It seemed like no one had noticed them hiding nearby yet, causing Zipporah to sigh out in relief and release her hand from Alisa's mouth.

"Honestly," Alisa sighed, "I do not see the need to be so rash."

"I'm just trying to do some good, old-fashioned admiring and you almost gave me away!"

"Admiring?" Alisa questioned, lifting a curious eyebrow, "Which one are you admiring?"

"Uh…" Zipporah replied, realizing that she had actually just given herself away to Alisa, "I'm not telling you!"

"You know, at least when Kasra creeps on people, he does it out in the open," Alisa began, "Your creep factor just went up passed Kasra's. I do not believe that is a good thing, my dear."

"I'm not a creeper!"

"On the contrary, I do believe this is what they call creeping."

"If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all!"

Alisa went quiet at that statement as she watched the scene a bit longer. She attempted to guess which person that her friend had her eyes on during this process. She quickly crossed Eli and Isaak off the list, figuring that Zipporah didn't want to get mixed up in the mess that they were already a part of with Cordelia. She then crossed Cordelia and Mia off the list, knowing Zipporah didn't swing that way. Kasra was a big, giant no. So that only left Seth and Gordon. She didn't think that Zipporah had even shown much interest in either man, not that she paid that close attention to when her friend was gawking over someone. Though, she had mentioned she was admiring someone. She supposed that it would be hard to admire Seth, who was still sitting in a chair passed out. So that only left…

"Zipporah Fieri!" Alisa suddenly shouted when things clicked together, "You are admiring him?! Him of all people?! You need to have some standards!"

Zipporah's eyes went wide at her friend's outburst and the fact that it totally turned everyone's attentions near the boxes. She turned to look at Alisa, seeing anger across her face, "You revealed us! I told you to just be quiet!"

"I will do no such thing! I cannot just sit idly by when you like such a man!"

"ACK! Shut up!" Zipporah yelled, trying to throw both of her hands over the woman's mouth now. Alisa wasn't having it a second time and kicked Zipporah off of her, sending the redhead flying across the deck. She skidded until she was hanging over the hole. She stared up at Gordon with surprised eyes, the man staring down at her with just as much surprise. She felt her body begin to fall through the hole, but she was quickly yanked upwards and out of it by Gordon, "Ahaha…thanks," she said with a nervous laugh, a light blush across her cheeks.

"Yeah, whatever," he grunted at her, "I'm working here, so keep out of my way."

"Come Zipporah," Alisa said, walking up and yanking her by the back of her shirt. She began to drag the woman across the deck, causing her to cry in embarrassment, "We have much to talk about."

The group surrounding the hole stared after the pair in confusion, unsure of what had just happened.

"Oi! Who told you to stop working?!" Cordelia suddenly shouted, bonking Gordon in the back of the head with her empty glass. Gordon felt his entire body twitch in annoyance, but managed to keep his mouth shut as he turned back to his work again.

**. : + : .**

Night had fallen across the ship, most of the mages having gone to sleep. Cordelia was walking up towards the middle ship, unable to sleep herself. She had talked some things over with Matilda and Devin. Devin knew where Ocean Rage was currently touring and she had given that information to Matilda. The caffeine addict then worked to moved the ship in the correct direction of the first island of Caelum, which happened to be its smallest island called Nube. Once all that had been settled and Cordelia had been reassured by her navigator that they would be reaching Nube at some point the next day, she left the navigation cabin.

She had first made her way down to her living quarters and attempted to go to sleep, but it never came. She moved into her office then, reading through more files and making notes for herself. She had decided to keep a journal of her day to day activities and such once she had became guild master, and so she filled out a few pages in that. She also made notes to herself to still speak with Securus and Devin privately. She had supposed that Devin might still be up, but she wasn't going to bother him so late at night over something she could speak with him about on another day. Once she had completed all the work she could, she found that she still wasn't tired…or at least her brain wasn't letting her sleep yet. So that was when she had decided to take a walk across the guild and make sure everything was calm and quiet.

She had quietly made her way across the decks, having been too lazy to put any shoes back on. She had thought several times about going into some of the dorms at the back of the guild and waking up Zinnia or Eli to mess with them, but she was sure that would start more trouble than it was worth. She was also certain that Bones with sleeping with Zinnia tonight and she knew how he could be if someone decided to sneak into a room that he was sleeping in and guarding for the night, even if it was herself. So she quickly let any idea of randomly waking people up go.

Cordelia sighed heavily as she came to the side ship that carried all the smaller boats for mages to use on missions, taking a seat at the edge of the ship. She let her legs hang over the side as she stared down into the water. Her eyes landed on the moon's reflection, causing her to look up at it, "It's such a nice night and I have no one to share it with."

"I'm here."

Cordelia jumped slightly when she heard the voice. A hand landed on her shoulder to ensure she wouldn't go falling into the ocean. She looked to her side to see Gamu smiling at her, "You scared me…again," she said, pressing a hand to her chest.

"I never mean to scare you," he said as he perched himself next to her.

"I know."

"It's late."

"I know that too."

"Cordelia can't sleep?" he asked, cocking his head to one side.

"No, I suppose not," she smiled softly over at him, "Looks like you can't sleep either."

"Mmm, I never sleep much," he answered, beginning to fiddle with her hair. He concentrated on tying together several small braids throughout it, a silence falling over the two. Though, a thought eventually came to his mind, "Cordelia."

"Yes Gamu?"

"Where is Duke?"

She glanced over at him, seeing that he had stopped with the braiding while a sad look crossed his face, "That's a good question," she said as she looked back up at the moon, "He went on a very long mission."

"To where?"

"Another country…a whole other continent I think."

"For what?"

"There were people there that needed help. They must have really needed it for their request to reach all the way to Earthland."

"But why did Duke go?"

"Because he likes to help people and he could do that better now since he was no longer the guild master when he took the request. I also think the place that sent the request was very important to him…at least from what dad told me."

Gamu didn't answer her that time as he turned to look down in the water.

"Ya know," she began in hopes of getting him to smile again, "Some times people do things that the people around them don't like. They don't do these things to hurt the people they care about. They do it because to them it's the right thing to do. That's how Duke felt about this mission. Ace and I have been sad that he's been gone so long too, but we know he'll come back."

"How do you know?"

"Because he promised he would and Duke doesn't break his promises. He promised you too, right?"

Gamu was quiet again as he thought back to the day that Duke had come to say goodbye to him. He remembered the man setting his hand on top of his head and promising to come home again. A sudden smile split across his face at the memory, "Yeah, he did."

"Then we'll see him again one day. We just have to be patient until then," she grinned at him, "Besides, you still have a lot of exploring to do with me. Three years is a lot of time to waste, ya know."

"Is it?"

Cordelia sweat dropped at the question, "Just a little, yeah."

"Then we can catch up some tonight," he said, jumping up from the side of the boat and pulling Cordelia with him, "There was someone still serving drinks."

"I'd like that," she smiled at him. She let Gamu pull her along across the deck as she reached up with her free hand to feel all the braids, "Gamu…just how many braids did you make?"

"Huh?" he questioned, his mind already off on a new subject. He looked back her with his own smile, "They look pretty!"

"That didn't really answer my question," she mumbled. Though, she left the braids in for the night since they seemed to make Gamu smile. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was really going to see them so late at night.

**. : + : .**

**April 10, X792 - Just Before Dawn**

Cordelia slowly woke up to the feeling of being carried. She blinked her eyes open a few times and took a look around her. She saw that stars were still in the sky, but it looked as if the sun would be peaking over the horizon any moment. She also felt heat all around her, the feeling almost lulling her back into sleep until she heard someone speak.

"I hope you know that if you fall asleep on the deck like that, that you're going to get sick."

Cordelia looked up to see Eli above her and she realized then that she really was being carried, "I figured I drank enough to keep warm."

Eli sighed in response to that, "You know it doesn't work like that. You were cold when I found you and Gamu on the deck."

"You just left him there?!"

"Calm down," he said, "I had the bartender carry him down to an empty dorm on the boy's ship."

Cordelia sighed in relief at knowing that Gamu was all right.

"How did you two end up passed out on the deck like that anyways."

"We were drinking and catching up last night. I couldn't sleep and neither could he, so we hung out. Guess we lost track of time and eventually fell asleep at the bar."

"Why couldn't you sleep? I don't ever remember you having problems like that before."

"I guess I'm just thinking about a lot of stuff," she answered with a yawn, "I still have files to read over and I have to make sure we're on track for the treasure. Plus, I have to get things ready for when everyone is able to start taking missions again. And then there's that sniper guy that was with the Black Skulls. I have to be prepared if they try to attack us again. And we don't even know what all the other members of their crew can do. So I have to make sure that everyone is safe and-"

"Whoa, okay," Eli said, quickly interrupting her, "No wonder you couldn't sleep."

"I actually should finish up reading over some more files so I can make sure I have a decent understanding of what everyone on the guild is capable of," she said, attempting to get out of his arms.

"Yeah, I don't think that's happening," he said as he tightened his grip on her.

"But Eli!"

"Look, those files and everything will still be there later on, but for now you should really get some sleep. How are you supposed to run things when you can't think straight from lack of sleep?"

"Fine."

"Glad you see it my way," he said, happy that she hadn't actually fought him on the subject. Though, this also worried him too since it was unusual for her to give in so easily like that. She really must have been tired then. He then had to wonder how much sleep she had actually gotten since she became the guild master. It had barely been a week and she was already wearing herself out, "I think you're going to need to find a good balance between work and sleep and everything," he said, deciding to voice his thoughts. He waited for a reply from her, but he never received one. He looked down to see that she had already drifted back to sleep, "Yeah, you definitely need to find a balance."

He continued walking to the front ship, laughing lightly when he saw Matilda passed out on the deck with Sam taking over the navigation for the time being. He then made his way down to Cordelia's bedroom to place her in her bed. He looked around the room for a moment when he finally reached it, seeing all sorts of collectibles and pictures from missions and special events and such over the years. It almost looked like she had a picture of herself with every single member of the guild. Though, he smirked when he saw the closest one next to her bed. It was from several years ago and consisted of only four people - Cordelia, Ace, Zinnia and himself. They were all smiling widely after having just returned from their first S-Class mission with Cordelia.

"That was a good day," he said quietly as he carried Cordelia over to her bed and laid her on it. He quickly pulled her covers up over her before taking a seat at the end of the bed. He heated up his body temperature with his Fire Magic in order to heat the bed just enough to keep Cordelia in a peaceful sleep. She had always seemed to sleep easier when she was warm.

His smile quickly dropped though when he thought back to the reason he had woken up so early himself. He hunched over in his spot on the bed, his elbows digging into his knees from a seemingly invisible weight on his shoulders. Originally he had come to speak with Cordelia about his worries, but now he wasn't so sure. Not when she had so much to deal with right now. His problems would only weigh her down more, "How am I supposed to tell her that I saw the Dark Water again?"

**. : + : .**

Morning and the afternoon had come and gone and the guild had stopped in port on the island of Nube by evening.

"It looks so pretty," Zinnia said as she stood outside with Cordelia on the deck of the head ship.

Cordelia had to agree. Nube was a fairly pretty island, especially with all the big puffy clouds surrounding it. The warm colors of the evening light cascaded through those clouds, creating a scene that was just waiting to be painted. The land itself was brightly colored in white sand and neon green grass. Palm trees and a few flowers filled the areas around the paths that covered island, leading farther inland.

"So…what's the plan now?" Zinnia asked.'

"Well, we have to speak with Van Black, we know that much," Cordelia answered, "But I can't just go barreling across the island looking for her myself. Not unless I want to get sick all over her the first time we meet."

"You could always use some of the serum that Jack created for you."

"I don't want to waste it. I only want to use that serum for emergencies. I can always send someone out to greet her for me…even if that may come off being a bit rude."

"Who are you going to send out?"

"You called for us?" Devin asked, interrupting the conversation and answering Zinnia's question at the same time. The two women turned to see Devin, Alexander and Alai standing on the deck.

"I did," Cordelia smiled at them, "I have a request to make of you three. I need you to go inland and find Van Black for me. Then bring her back here so I may speak with her."

"Why not go get her yourself?" Alexander asked.

Devin turned sharply to glare back at the younger man, but Cordelia quickly stopped him before he could say anything.

"I have land sickness, so unfortunately that stops me from venturing out onto Nube myself, so I need your help," she answered, the two staring each other down for a long moment, "But I suppose if you don't want to do this for me, I can just find someone else to help Devin out. I just thought that maybe you'd like to have some fun at a concert and maybe fight off some security guards if they try to keep you from reaching Van Black after the concert."

"Alexander, I want to fight," Alai said quietly but sternly from next to him.

Cordelia smirked at that comment, knowing she had the man right where she wanted him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Fine, we'll help you out," he huffed, "But I hope you know that tricking us into doing this isn't what a guild master should do."

"Tricking?" she questioned as if she hadn't known what she had just done, "I told you, you were more than free to choose not to do this."

"I think that's enough of that," Zinnia said, stepping in front of Cordelia with a smile, "We appreciate you doing this, but please do keep in mind that Van Black is mean to be a guest on our guild, so don't go dragging her all the way here by force."

"Understood," Devin answered for the team.

"Oh, and I'd like to clarify that Devin is the leader for this little mission," Cordelia said, staring down Alexander again, "So you need to follow whatever he says. I don't need you causing a bigger mess because you went flying solo."

"Why do you assume we would cause more problems?" Alexander asked.

"Just call it a hunch," she grinned, "Now go have some fun."

Devin escorted the twins off of the ship and onto the docks before anything further could be said.

"Seems like he still doesn't trust you," Zinnia frowned.

"I'm sure he has reason to," Cordelia said, "It's not like he dislikes me at least, but I think I'll have to take things slow with that one. He also seems to be a bit tricky himself. He's perfected a fake smile, so that's a bit of a problem."

"You can tell it's fake?"

"Yes, when you know how to make one yourself, you can tend to spot them."

Zinnia didn't say anything else as the two turned back to watching the evening sky of Nube.

**. : + : .**

"Man, she always ruffles my feathers," Alexander grumbled as the trio walked into the mainland of the small island.

"You don't even know her," Devin snapped back at him.

"I know that she stands for authority."

Devin glared back at him, "Yeah, you definitely don't know Cordelia at all. You think she got the position of guild master in order to boss people around?" he asked, receiving no reply from Alexander, "Tch, she already did that before she came into the position."

"So what am I supposed to think of her? I want to go off completing missions, not being stuck on the guild hunting down treasure."

"She's doing this so we can all continuing surviving on that guild, you idiot."

"And she needs all of us for that? I don't want to be chained down."

"That's why she gave you this mission!" Devin shouted. He took a moment to calm himself down before he spoke again, "Look, you want to know the type of person Cordelia is? She's the type to go out of her way to see everyone happy, despite how it might affect her," he explained, reaching a hand up to touch his new headphones for a moment, "Maybe if you'd stop worrying about yourself for a moment, you'd see that."

"I worry about Alai too."

The two men stopped for a moment when they realized that Alai was no longer walking with them. They turned back around to see the woman leaning up against a tree, looking as if she was overly dizzy.

"Alai!" Alexander shouted, running back towards her.

"Is she all right?"

"I forgot that she doesn't do so well on land."

"Should we take her back to the guild?"

"No," Alai said harshly, "I can handle this."

She took a deep breath before she pushed herself up off of the tree with her head held high and began walking again.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Alexander asked, hovering over her as they walked along the path.

"I'm fine," she huffed out, "We have a job to do, so stop complaining so much."

Alexander was surprised to see his sister so eager to go on a mission on land, but she was pushing through without complaints. He supposed he would need to do the same now, and so he smiled down at her, "Yeah, all right."

**. : + : .**

The trio came into the middle of town expecting there to be a large concert going on, but it was fairly quiet. They saw where things were being set up off in the distance for an eventual concert, but it didn't seem like one would be happening tonight. Devin managed to catch a man passing them to ask about Ocean Rage.

"Excuse me," he began, "Isn't there supposed to be a concert going on tonight?"

"Yeah, that actually got pushed back a day. Some technical problems or something I think."

"I see. Do you know if the band is staying on the island tonight then?"

"I believe so, but they're aren't taking visitors right now."

"Could you point us in the right direction anyways?"

"Sure thing. Go up this hill and you'll see several large trailers. I think the band is staying in them instead of a hotel."

"Thanks," Devin said with a nod. He quickly moved up the hill that the man pointed out with Alexander and Alai close behind him.

Once at the top of the hill, they saw the trailers that the man had been talking about. They set their sights on an all black one and Devin was pretty sure that's where Van Black would be. He began making his way towards it, but several large bouncers stepped in their way.

"The band ain't taking visitors tonight. Head on home," one of them said.

"We just need to speak with Van Black," Devin said, "It's important that we see her."

"Oh sure buddy, I bet it's real important that you get her autograph," another man huffed, "Piss off already!"

"Martial Speed: Form Flicker!" Alai shouted. The small girl zipped in and out of sight around the bouncers, making precise hits with her fists and legs in order to bring them all down easily. More security guards began coming towards them after that, Alai springing into action before Alexander and Devin could say anything.

Alexander then turned towards Devin with a grin, "We'll handle things out here. You get into the trailer and speak with Van."

Devin watched him run off to support his sister in battle, causing him to sigh, "Wasn't I supposed to be the one giving orders?" he mumbled as he walked up to the black trailer. He listened from outside if there were any people in it, but no noise could be heard. Still, he needed to check the inside of it, so he threw open the door and closed it behind him. He walked in to see a nicely decorated inside, the walls filled with all the records the band had released and the awards they had won. There was a bed towards the back and a couple of couches in the main area of the trailer. He then turned his head to the right to come face to face with a revolver.

"I believe the bouncers told you that we weren't taking visitors," a woman said from behind the gun. Devin instantly recognized that honeyed bourbon voice, knowing that the woman pointing a gun at him was none other than Van Black. He looked from the gun to the woman to see she was rather tall and had nicely tanned skin along with an hourglass figure. Her jet black hair was straight and fell all around her, hitting the top of her hips. The matching black eyes watched him with a heated stare, the straight face she wore adding to her intimidation. She wore a crimson top with a black leather jacket over it. The jacket was left open and there was a white print of the band name on the back of it. She had on tight black pants with a pair of killer black heels that had silver studs covering them. At her hips was a black leather belt that carried a second revolver on her left hip, the one that usually hung on her right side currently being in her hands. She had several black rings on random fingers and studs up along both ears as well.

"And I believe you need better bouncers," Devin finally said. He was sure that making a smart remark probably wasn't in his best interest right now since she still had the gun pointed at him, "What's with the guns anyways?"

"One can never be too cautious," she answered, keeping the gun on him until she knew he wasn't a threat, "I'm not just a pretty face, ya know."

"Looks like it. Mind if we talk without the gun pointed at my face?"

"What do you want? And I swear if you say an autograph, I'll slam one of my heels into your head."

I don't doubt you will," Devin said, paling slightly, "But I came on a request of my guild master."

"Don't tell me you all want a free show."

"As awesome as that would be, no," he answered, "We have questions about a treasure. William Blackstroker's treasure."

The woman groaned loudly at his answer, "After all these years, that old man is still making my life fucking ridiculous!" she growled, but she had managed to put away the revolver finally. She then leaned back against a wall and crossed her arms, "What's your name, kid?"

"Devin McLain," he answered, "Are you Van Black then?"

"The one and fucking only," she grumbled.

"Well, we found a treasure map that we're pretty sure is authenticate and it led us to you. It had some of your band's lyrics on it. Though, I was a bit surprised that Blackstroker knew the lyrics. I figured since he was dead that he wouldn't know your work."

"Dead? Pffft!" Van snorted in reply, "Is that what that old man is telling people nowadays?"

"So Blackstroker isn't dead?"

"Hell no…the old man doesn't know when to die! He just likes to screw with people. Although that time he trapped a baby kraken in pop's old place was pretty damn hilarious."

"Uh…" Devin said, unsure of how to answer her, "Okay, wait, so if Blackstroker isn't dead then why is he having people search for his treasure?"

"I suppose that's something I'll have to discuss with your guild master, isn't it?"

"So you're willing to come talk to her?"

"Yeah, sure. If you all came all the way here to find me, then I suppose it's only right that I go see her. I would like to ask why she didn't come herself?"

"Would you believe me if I said land sickness?"

"Haha! That's fucking priceless! The old man has to deal with that too!"

Devin sighed in relief that she actually believed him.

"Don't look so worried," she smirked at him, "I don't bite…much. Now, lead the way!"

**. : + : .**

"Do you think that those three will really bring Van Black back with them?" Zinnia asked, looking over at Cordelia.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll be able to," Cordelia answered, "But it might not be until late tonight that they come back since they'll have to wait for the concert to be over."

It was then that movement along the path that the trio had left down earlier caught their attention. Over the hill they saw Devin, Alexander and Alai appear. Cordelia gave them an odd look, not expecting them back so soon. Though, her eyes quickly averted to the woman that came up behind them. She knew in an instant that this was Van Black. It was in the way she carried herself and the look she held in her eyes. Power and confidence seemed to practically waft off of her, and when she looked up at Cordelia with that crooked grin of hers, it felt as if everything stopped for a moment.

Even Zinnia seemed to feel the heaviness in the air as Cordelia straightened her back up and copied the intimidation that the dark haired woman emitted. It was almost like watching a stand off. Zinnia had to admit that the two women were so much alike one another and they hadn't even spoke to each other; but she knew that both of them came from long and proud histories and now it appeared to be a battle of whose pride was deeper.

'I hope this meeting doesn't blow up in our faces because of Cordelia's pride,' Zinnia thought.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Van Black - MyDearWatson**

So that was a pretty fun chapter and I'm excited that I got to introduce Van as well!

I have one captain position left for the Southern area. Same rules still apply.

Nube is Latin for cloud. I decided to go through an name all seven of the islands in Caelum, with Dreadburner's help, and so they'll all be sky based since Caelum is Latin for sky.

Mia and Hagi's pictures are now up on my profile as well! Go check them out!

Also! I've decided on something that I'm sure you all will be happy about. So I had decided to continue doing weekly updates for Thunder Stone and so I wanted to do that for Storm's Helm as well. So every Sunday you all should receive an update for this story. That'll give me time between Thunder Stone's updates on Thursdays to get a Storm's Helm chapter completed. Although, you're all getting this specific update a little early since tomorrow my little brother is graduating and it's Mother's Day, so I'll be a little busy. But yeah, expect to see Storm's Helm Sundays from now on! CHA!

All right! So onto those reviews!

Thanks to everyone that reviewed last chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Haha, yeah, those last two chapters came out back to back. Not sure how I was even able to do that either. Yeah, both Zhuues are pretty interesting, but the one for Storm's Helm is much more entertaining, I think. And Hagi…he does need to figure out how to hold his comments back somehow. Poor guy is gonna end up in some major trouble otherwise. And Isaak did a good job of covering for Eli, so hopefully Eli will stop acting like a fool, but that's a bit doubtful right now. And yeah, whenever Madmartigan finds out that Daniel already gave them away, I'm sure he's gonna be more than just angry with him. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**GhostOfOnyx - **LOL, yeah, I guess the quick chapter was a bit of a surprise attack for you all. But I'm glad you liked the chapter and how things are moving along with all the characters. Jack is pretty fatherly towards everyone, especially when he worries over their health and everything. And Hagi is always such fun for me to write! Even when he's causing trouble like that! Yep, Cordelia definitely has some reflexes on her when the situation calls for it. Eventually we'll get more back story on Cordelia and Isaak, but yeah, I would keep an eye out for that Eli vs. Isaak moment, lol. And I do actually appreciate the info with the guns! I learned something from your review! ^.^ But seriously, it is appreciated for future references since I always look to better my writing and everything and knowing exactly how something like that would play out helps. And now worries on when you can get a review in! Hope you liked the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Haha, yeah I actually have been in a situation like that before. Makes it so hard to choose on what to do! But I'm glad to hear that you're liking both Zhuue and Jack. And I agree, I think that moment with Jack was needed for Kato. But we'll have to wait and see what that moment between Zhuue and Jack was about! :3 Well, it seems that Mia probably moved up on your list of characters just by her having a scythe, lol. And no, Hagi never fails! Honestly, I don't even know how I write Isaak the way I do. I'm totally not smooth at all in real life so I'm not sure how I can write him like that, lol! But whatever, it seems to working itself out! And more info to come on Cordelia and Isaak! (Don't know when though…does that count as another cliff hanger/teaser? I'm sure you'll count it as one :p) Yep, I thought it was time to see some more of Seth's magic! Yeah, I think Zinnia paired with just about anyone makes a dangerous combo of magic, but with Securus it definitely makes it that much more dangerous. Yep, I got Seth matched up with who he'll be fighting seriously! I totally can't wait for you to meet the guy, lol! But the showdown between Securus and Daniel should definitely be pretty awesome whenever it happens! It actually should be happening way sooner than I had originally thought. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! I was laughing myself during the scene with the cotton ball beard. And Hagi and Mia just work so well together! I love their friendship! And I'm glad you liked that magic canceling bullet, but I'm sure Daniel has more up his sleeve! And I hope you liked that little fanning moment between Mia and Seth! Yeah, I think I through most of you for a loop with the whole Cordelia and Isaak having dated thing. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **Yep! That last one was a super quick update! ^.^ And I'm glad to hear that you're liking the way your characters are turning out! And thanks again for sending over those characters you gave me too! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Haha, yep, Kato just keeps getting laid into, both physically and with lectures. I'd say I'd feel bad for him, but he sorta asked for it. Yeah, Eli has a hard time dealing with Cordelia's past relationship with Isaak still. And yeah, that combo of magic between Zinnia and Securus is pretty hard to beat, so I think Madmartigan might be in a bit over his head…although we still have to meet the rest of his crew too! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep, Eli has reason to dislike Isaak, even if the relationship is already over. But it's mostly because he doesn't realize certain things himself as to why he acts that way. Yeah, that magic canceling bullet definitely makes things tricky for the guild and we haven't even seen everything that Daniel can do yet! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **In time we'll find out all the back story between Cordelia and Isaak. But I'm glad you picked up on that mention of Mac through her wood magic. ^.^ Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **Yeah, Daniel is definitely gonna make things tricky for the guild and we haven't even seen his full abilities yet! And yeah, a full attack will be in the future from the pirates and that's gonna be pretty awesome now that I've gotten Madmartigan all figured out. And I'll have to think about that S-Class Force, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Oh yeah, Daniel will definitely be getting another chance here soon. But yeah, since Cordelia and Zinnia work so well together and because Securus actually listens to Cordelia, they worked together nicely this time around. But I'm sure that won't happen every time, much to Cordelia's dismay. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **LOL! Yep, those chapters were back to back there. But I'm glad you enjoyed that action scene in the last chapter! And yep, Eli acts the way he does for a reason, so more info on that relationship to come in the future! I do love the friendship between Hagi and Mia myself! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Haha! Yeah, definite surprise chapter for you all. Yep, I do enjoy throwing you guys those curve balls! But yeah, Cordelia and Isaak used to date! I was fairly certain you'd be all over that, lol. That whole thing will be explained eventually…just don't know when exactly. And I hope you enjoyed the scenes with Gordon and Zipporah in this chapter! Yep, pretty sure Madmartigan is gonna be super angry when he finds out that Daniel messed up already. Yes! I totally pictured Vash when I was writing Mingo! I know he probably won't jump out with Love and Peace…yet, but the doughnuts could work so well, haha! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! As well as Zhuue's antics! Yep, Cordelia and Isaak used to date! But poor Eli can't let it go. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **I'm gonna combine both of your review responses here, lol. Glad you enjoyed the interaction between Ajax and Mac. That was pretty fun for me to write. And that Jean and Rin scene, lol! They are definitely not the best flirters around! And I'm glad that Daniel turned out so well for you! Nope, Kato never gets a break, but he sorta had it coming. But I'm glad you liked that moment between Kato and Jack. Yep, Cordelia and Isaak dated! Seems I threw most of you off with that one! I figured that Daniel would be one to start off with a bang, so that's how it ended up, lol. And I'm sure that Madmartigan is not going to be pleased with him, but first he needs to deal with Securus! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Ogrespi - **Yeah, that last chapter was up super quick! But I'm glad you've enjoyed the past couple of chapters. But yep, Cordelia and Isaak used to date. I don't think you were the only one shocked over that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! As well as that battle between Securus and Daniel. And that full battle between marksmen will be coming soon! And yeah, Cordelia and Isaak used to date! More info on that subject to come…eventually! And no worries on when you can review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

That should be it for this chapter!

See you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	14. Enter: The Western Vice Admiral!

**A/N: **Finally! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 14: Enter: The Western Vice Admiral!**

**April 10, X792 - Evening**

Cordelia and Van sat silently in the guild master's office. The two stared each other down, although Van wore a smirk unlike the straight faced Cordelia.

"Pretty nice place you've got here," Van finally said, peering around the cabin. She pulled a cigarette pack out from her jack and stuck one in her mouth without thinking. She grabbed for a lighter and stopped to look over at Cordelia, "You don't mind if I have a smoke, do you?" she asked, only receiving a flat stare from the woman in front of her, "I take that as a no," Van said as she stuck the cigarette behind her ear for the time being, "I assumed that as a guild master of a guild at sea, you'd be more, I don't know, wild?"

"Yes, well, I feel a bit on edge right now," Cordelia answered, glancing down at the guns at the woman's hips, "Considering the type of lineage you might come from."

"A girl's gotta take care of her herself, right?" Van replied, smirking as she pulled her guns from the holsters and set them on the desk, "Isn't that why you have big boy there behind you?" she asked, motioning towards Seth, who was standing behind Cordelia slightly to the left, his leg having healed enough to help Cordelia out that evening thanks to Jack. Seth only smiled warmly at her in reply.

"I guess…ohhhhhhhh! Check out these little babies!" Cordelia said, staring down at the guns with sparkles in her eyes, "They look pretty old. Mind if I pick them up?"

"Little? You're fucking kidding me, right?"

Cordelia answered her by calling forth a large shotgun and slamming it on the desk, "Mine's bigger," she said while picking up one of the revolvers and finally sending her own smirk over at Van, "So yeah, they're little."

Van laughed as she picked up the shotgun, "I think I might just like your style," she said, staring down the barrel of the gun. She continued investigating the gun while Cordelia gawked over her own weapons. After another quiet moment, Van looked back over at Cordelia, "What maker is your gun from? I don't see any insignia or name on it."

"That's because it was hand made here on my guild by my own crafter," Cordelia answered as she continued looking over the gun in her hands. She stared down into the barrel of it before Seth interrupted her.

"Could you maybe refrain from staring down the barrel of the gun," he said with a nervous laugh, "I don't want to be the one to explain to the guild how you blew an eye out."

"I know how to handle a gun!" Cordelia retorted loudly, "I'll look where I damn well please. Besides, I haven't seen a gun like this in a long time. It's so nicely done!"

"I could always check my trailer out to see if I have some extras for you," Van said, "It's not often I come across someone who understands the simple beauty of these revolvers."

"Are you trying to win over my heart?" Cordelia asked with a playful smile, "But I couldn't take something like that from you. I'm sure they cost you a great deal."

"Tch, not at all. Got too many of these damn things actually. The old man always gives me a new pair whenever I see him. I really don't know where he gets them all from, but he always thinks they make the greatest damn gifts. Got my first guns when I was eight. That about gave my mom a heart attack."

"HA! My mom was the one to actually give me my first pair or guns before my father and he was the one teaching me magic!"

"Well, you seem to be able to hold your own well…I mean, you are the guild master for this place, right?" Van said, peering back at Seth again, "So why do you have big boy back there?"

"Uh…extra reassurance?" Cordelia answered, "I honestly didn't know what to expect form this meeting and considering the subject of our discussion, I wanted to be sure I'd be covered. It's nothing against you personally, I suppose. But you did give off a pretty powerful air around you when you came over that hill."

"I get that a lot. Probably thanks to that damn old man," Van said, "But I guess I should feel a bit proud of myself if you went out your way to bring in another mage with you to this meeting, especially when I don't even have any magic myself."

"I wouldn't get too cocky."

"But you were the one that added fire to my ego and it was already pretty large to begin with," she smirked, "But I suppose we should get down to business. I'm sure you're a busy woman like myself."

"More so now that I'm the guild master. Do you know what it's like taking care of a bunch of mages?" Cordelia asked as she moved to grab the map from the cabinet she had locked it up in.

"I can imagine. I have a band to take care of. They're pretty fucking stupid sometimes."

"Guess we have more in common than I thought," Cordelia chuckled, "Here we are," she said as she grabbed the map and placed it on the desk so Van would be able to read it.

Van glanced over the white writing on the paper and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that's the old man's hand writing all right. He thinks he's so fucking clever with this shit."

"Yes, Devin did mention that Blackstroker was still alive," Cordelia said as she took her seat again, "So what's the story with that? Is there really any treasure then? And how exactly are you related to Blackstroker? I mean, I assumed that you had to have some sort of connection to him if your song lyrics showed up on the map."

"The old man is my grandfather," Van answered with a sigh, "I use Black as a stage name so people won't make the connection between us. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get any sort of job with the Blackstroker name? Other than being a pirate, it's really fucking hard."

"So you don't like your grandfather?"

"I never said that. I actually really love the man…as fucking annoying as he is," Van said, mumbling the last part, "I just didn't want that kind of life for myself, so I made my own path. The old man was pretty happy with me after I told him I would decide my life for myself. It was one of the decent lessons he ever taught me."

"So what's the deal with the map then?"

"I guess you could say that the old man got bored," Van said with a shrug, "I mean, what would you do if you had a shit ton of money and nothing but time on your hands? So he decided to make a game with both those things. This map isn't the only one out there. He made several of them, each belonging to a different country. Looks like you happened to find the one for Caelum. And fate must love you since I just so happened to be in Caelum. I am the answer to the first clue for the Caelum map."

"You're the answer?" Cordelia questioned, "No offense, but what if you had died or something?"

"Then I guess no one would have ever gotten the Caelum treasure."

"Wait," Seth said, "So this guy is so rich that he has treasure hoards hidden across several countries AND still has enough money to travel around with his pirate lifestyle?"

"Yep."

"And he's just putting money out there for people to take?" Cordelia asked.

"Yep."

Cordelia and Seth exchanged glances before looking back at Van and asking, "Why?"

"I tried to ask him the same damn thing," Van said, "Asked why he just doesn't give some of that money to his family. He simply said that his family was too stupid to know what to do with that kind of money. He said they'd probably blow it all on lame ass shit that they'd just end up throwing away anyways. And I had to agree with him. A lot of people in my family are materialistic. Maybe it comes from the pirate blood."

"So why say that he's dead?" Cordelia asked.

"I'm not really sure on that one. I hadn't really heard about that rumor yet, but I'm sure he'd say he did it so people would actually go looking for the treasure. People would probably be too scared to try for it otherwise. Afraid that the old man would come after them if they tried."

"Does he know when people are looking for his treasures?" Seth asked.

"I believe so. He mentioned that he put a spell or something on the maps that alert him when people have found it and start using it to hunt down treasure. I guess it gives him something new to do for a while. I mean, really, he's just a bored old man with too much money and time on his hands. I guess this is his way of getting entertainment. Call it a live action movie if you will. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already somewhere nearby, seeing how things are playing out for the first clue."

"And how are things playing out? How does the map move onto the second clue? You did say you were the clue, after all," Cordelia said.

Van was quiet as she stared at Cordelia for a long moment, like she was studying her, "I've decided that I like you, Guild Master Murdock. I think you'll make it out of this treasure hunt victorious and you remind me of the old man a bit. I like that. So I'll help you out with the next clue," she said, pulling out a pocket knife from her coat and pricking one finger with it. She let a single drop of blood fall on the map, the crimson liquid sinking into the paper. Once the blood had completely soaked in, a portion of blackness that covered the paper disappeared and the writing on the paper changed as well.

Cordelia and Seth leaned over the table to look at the changes, Cordelia turning the map towards her and reading the white writing, "Congratulations! You've managed to find my granddaughter and got her to like you enough to uncover the next clue! She's a bit of a tough nut to crack, but she's quite the adorable little girl! I have the pictures to prove it!"

At that, Cordelia and Seth looked up at Van with grins while Van just rolled her eyes, "Keep reading," she huffed.

"Now then, below is the next clue. Good luck and happy hunting! William Blackstroker," Cordelia read off, "On an island of fog, you will find dangerous beauties. Find the frozen beauty and you will find your way to the third clue. But be warned, your ears and weak-willed men may be the death of you on this island."

"Dangerous beauties?" Cordelia questioned.

"Your ears being the death of you?" Seth added, "What kind of place is that?"

"I can't tell you everything," Van said, "But I can tell you this clue leads you to the island next to Nube, Nebula."

"The island of fog!" Cordelia said.

"Exactly."

Cordelia stared down at the map with a confused expression, "While I appreciate you helping me with all of this, why would you help me? We have no history together and this is your grandfather's treasure we're hunting."

Van shrugged as she leaned back in her chair, "I've never really cared for the old man's money, so it's not like I want it. I have my own way of making money that I quite like. And while I think you remind me of the old man, I also see myself in you. You're making your own way in life, but you're also leading the way for other people too. Guess I just feel like helping out a kindred soul. Pretty sure my band would tease the shit out of me if they heard me talking like this too. Being sentimental like this really isn't my style. But what's that expression?" she thought, tapping her index finger on her chin, "Ah right, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. So just take my help while I'm giving it to you."

Cordelia went quiet for a moment, thinking back to the conversation she had with her father a few days ago. About how she was just starting out as guild master and that she needed to learn to take these kind of gifts when they were given to her. She then smiled over at Van, "I appreciate the help then. We'll probably head out to Nebula in the morning. You're more than welcome to stay and enjoy our guild until then."

"I may take you up on that offer, so long as you have some decent liquor and you give me a place where I can have a smoke," Van answered.

"Of course we can do that," Cordelia said. Though, before she could say anything else, shouts and gun shots coming from above deck interrupted them. The trio in the office exchanged looks before Cordelia and Van grabbed their guns and went flying out the door.

**. : + : .**

It had been a fairly quiet evening on the ship. There was a light breeze blowing and the warm colors of the evening sky cascaded over the guild. It was the kind of night that Securus really enjoyed taking in. It wasn't often that the guild mellowed out like this, but he mostly blamed that on their current guest for the night. He may not have seen Van Black as a dangerous person, but it seemed that many of his guildmates had hidden away for the night when she came on board. Maybe they could tell that Cordelia was feeling uneasy about things and they had decided not to cause trouble for the time being. Whatever it was that had the guild quiet, he decided to relish in it. Although, there was one small thing currently irritating him.

"John, would you sit down already?" Securus asked after taking a swig of the sake near him, "You're ruining this rare moment of peace by pacing back and forth."

"I can't help it," John answered, "I don't like not having something to do."

"You need to learn how to relax already," the lazy S-Class replied, "There's nothing to be done while Cordelia is busy talking with Van. Why don't you grab something to eat?"

"I've already done that."

Securus stared the man down as he continued his pacing, taking another swig of sake before speaking again, "If you're that desperate for something to do, then go mop down the decks of all ten ships. It's getting old watching you move back and forth like a damn pendulum."

"I've already done that too."

"You're a freak of nature," Securus mumbled as he lit up a cigarette and blew out a stream of smoke. John suddenly stopped his pacing to study Securus for a moment, "What?" the marksman snapped.

"You seem to be drinking and smoking more than usual…and at a quicker pace too," John said, "Is everything all right?"

"I'm surprised you picked up on something like that in all your pacing," Securus said, "But nothing's wrong. I'm just annoyed that I can't enjoy this night because of you."

"You're more defensive than usual too."

"It's nothing," Securus waved him off, "Now either sit down next to me or piss off somewhere else."

John gave him an unamused stare. Though, he found it a bit odd at how snappy the other man was being. Securus was normally one that just went with the flow, so for the man to appear to be so tense was unusual, "Yeah, something is definitely off with you."

"Look, would you just drop it alr-" Securus began to say before suddenly going quiet. He looked around the area the two men were in, only seeing a few other guild members sitting at the tables that littered the deck of the main ship.

"Securus? What is it?"

"Shut up," Securus snapped back at John as he stood from his seat. He began moving to the edge of the deck, trying to figure out what the strange feeling in the air was. A heaviness was suddenly hanging in the air, one that normally meant danger. He dropped his cigarette to the deck, smashing it with a boot before his entire body went still. He could feel someone watching him, but that wasn't the only thing he could sense. Along with the target on his back, he could sense multiple other dangers in the area, 'This isn't good. It's been too long since I've been out on a solo mission. This could stir _him_ up more if things get out of hand,' Securus thought as he attempted to pinpoint the main person targeting him. He was sure that was the person in charge and if he took them out then the rest would fall with him.

"Securus," John tried again, feeling worried now by the look on his friend's face.

"I said shut up," Securus hissed, turning to glare back at John. In that split second, a loud whistle echoed through the air and suddenly there were men crawling across the guild with weapons at the ready. Securus turned back around to come face to face with a man wearing a familiar eye patch, "You're that sniper from the other day."

"Aye, the name's Daniel Sierra," he answered, causing Securus to scrunch his nose in disgust from the smell of his breath, "Now then," he began, pulling out the gun from his left holster and aiming it at Securus's head, "I'll only say this once, hand over the map and no one gets hurt."

"How cliché," Securus said, "What's next? For every minute we don't give you the map, you'll kill someone?"

"You better watch yourself there, buddy," Daniel growled, "I'm not afraid to pull the trigger."

"You talk an awfully big game for someone that was almost taken out by my gun."

"Tch, just a lucky shot."

"Care to try your luck again?"

"I think you have other things to worry about," Daniel smirked, motioning behind him. Securus turned to see John taking on several of the attacking men, the older man trying his best to hold them all back from reaching the dorms where most of the guild had disappeared to, "Looks like your friend's in trouble. Hmm, but so are you. You still have a gun pointed at your head."

"If you think John is weak, you're sorely mistaken," Securus said, turning back to the man with a smirk, "And if those men are just guns for hire like I think they are, then they don't stand a chance."

John pulled out his cutlass, which happened to be enchanted with Impact Magic, and swung it in a large arc. The blade barely missed slashing across a handful of men, but this wasn't what they had to be worried about. Just as the blade passed them and they thought they were in the clear, a large, invisible force pushed them backwards and away from John. Once the first wave was down, a second wave of men attempted to attack the large man, a few of them jumping high to avoid the blast from the sword, "Void Skip!" John shouted. In an instant, he had moved across the deck to stand behind the men. He then swung his cutlass again and the impact hit the men, knocking them down like the first group.

"What did I tell you?" Securus asked.

"Shut up! You shouldn't get cocky with a gun pointed at your head!" Daniel shouted, "You don't even know what kind of bullets I have. Although, it wouldn't matter since the gun is aimed right at your head, but let's find out which bullet this might be," he said, quickly moving the gun to shoot at John.

"John!" Securus shouted. John looked up from his fighting just in time to watch Daniel pull the trigger. A rusty brown bullet flew out from the barrel and straight towards John. Luckily, the man had enough time to dodge thanks to Securus's shout. The bullet hit a large table, which caused it to rapidly decompose until it was just a pile of ash and sawdust, "Just what kind of bullet was that?!" Securus shouted, swinging back around to look at Daniel again.

"It's my decomposing bullet," Daniel grinned widely, "Whatever it hits will instantly start dissolving. Just think what would have happened if I had sent it though your head instead!"

'We can't have this guy on the guild. Those bullets will really cause problems and who knows what other kind of bullets he has,' Securus thought.

'_Just let me kill him already.'_

Securus shook his head violently at the sound of the low and deep voice speaking to him. He willed for the voice to go away and leave him be. He couldn't let _him _out while he was so close to the guild.

'_You know you're aching to take him out. Just let me do it already. I've been cooped up for so long!'_

Securus continued to ignore the voice as he looked back over at John, "OI! John! We need to move somewhere else for the time being! Think you can skip the three of us out of here?!"

"What about the guild? We can't just leave it unprotected!"

"If I know Cordelia, she'll be popping up any minute now," Securus said with a smirk.

As if to prove him correct, Cordelia, Seth and Van came bounding across a bridge.

"What's going on?!" Cordelia shouted.

"Looks like we're being raided by a Black Skull member," Securus answered, "We're actually about to take care of him. Think you can hold off the idiots he hired to help him?"

"Wait! Securus!" Cordelia yelled, watching as John made his way over towards the two marksmen, "His bullets aren't normal! You can't just leave!"

"That's why we have to get out of here. He could kill someone."

"But he could kill you too!"

"Don't worry about me, sweetheart," Securus grinned, "I'll be back in one piece. I'll make sure John does too."

"We ain't going anywhere!" Daniel shouted, aiming his gun to shoot again.

"Wanna bet?" Securus said, grabbing onto his shirt collar just as John landed a hand on his shoulder.

"Securus!" Cordelia shouted, a gun shot going off at the same time. Seth yanked Cordelia backwards just in time for the bullet to miss her and hit the deck. The deck dissolved away like the table had, leaving a large hole, "What the fuck?! This deck was just fixed! You better give him hell, Securus!"

Securus simply smirked at Cordelia's reaction as he nodded back at John.

"Void Skip!"

"And don't you dare think about letting _him_ out either!" Cordelia demanded right before the trio flashed out of sight. She grumbled under her breath about lazy ass men doing whatever they felt like for a moment before Seth grabbed her attention.

"So…what are we going to do about all these guys?" he asked, motioning towards the still growing crowd of bandits and thugs.

"Where did he even find all these people?" Cordelia said, "I thought Nube was supposed to be the smallest island of Caelum."

"He might have picked up a crew or two along the way here," Van answered, "I thought I remembered seeing some ships in port on the other side of the island. Figured they were here for the concert though."

"Guess we have no choice but to fight them off," Cordelia answered, "You can head back to my office if you want," she said, looking over at Van.

"You're fucking kidding me, right?" Van huffed, "Don't assume that I can't fight just because I don't have magic."

"It's your choice," Cordelia shrugged, "But don't be yelling at me if you get hurt."

"I think I can handle a few thugs."

"I hope you all weren't thinking of fighting all by yourselves," Mac said, walking up one of the bridges to the main deck with her staff in hand.

"Trying to keep all the fun for yourselves, I see," Isaak added, walking up another bridge with his hands at the ready by his Rune Cards.

"Really, Cordi, you shouldn't be so selfish," Ace smirked, showing up on another bridge with Jay right behind him.

"Talk about overkill," Cordelia laughed, looking towards the bandits on her guild, "You really picked the wrong people to mess with. I hope you have some damn good medical insurance," she said, recalling her shotgun in order to call out a different gun, "The Twin Pistols should be enough to deal with this lot. Sometimes simple is better," she said, calling forth the pistols. She then looked over at Seth, who was in the process of taking off his hooded jacket as it allowed him to move around easier. This revealed three more tattoos on his back, consisting of a pair of fairy wings at the top, a pair of eagle wings right under them and a wyvern's tail on his lower back, "You gonna be okay to fight?"

"Chimera Shift: Tiger!" he announced, his skin taking on the appearance of tiger stripes again as well as his nails turning into sharpened claws, "Of course I am," he smiled down at her.

She nodded at him before turning back to the thugs in front of her, "We're not aiming to kill, but if they happen to leave here limping or unconscious, well then, that's what they get for working with a pirate! Let's show them why we're called Storm's Helm!" Cordelia shouted.

With that, the bandits seemed to explode outwards, taking on any mage that they happened to come across. A group of men headed towards Mac first, figuring the shorter woman would be an easy target to take out.

"Wood Make: Thorn Wall!" Mac shouted when she saw them bringing down swords at her. A dense, wooden foliage rose up all around her, large thorns sticking out from it. The swords chopped into the parts of the wood, but the force behind the swings weren't enough to cut through it. A couple of the men jumped back with painful yelps, the thorns having stuck them, "Ya know, you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover," Mac said from within the foliage, "Wood Make: Splinters!" she yelled as she slammed a hand against the wall from the inside. This caused a storm of splinters the fly out from the wall and towards the men. They shouted in pain as they attempted to run and shield themselves, "Think you can get away that easily?!" she shouted as she broke the top of the wall with her staff and launched herself up and out towards them. She began chasing them across the deck, passing Isaak as a group of men came to face him now.

"You really should just give up now," Isaak said with an easy smile.

"Like a pretty boy like you can do anything!" one of the men shouted.

"Heh, guess I'll have to show you then," Isaak said as he opened up one of his card pouches and pulled out five cards, "Rune Card Magic: Purify!" he announced as he threw the cards at the man that had spoken to him. They floated around the man for a moment before they began to glow a bright purple, the purifying light inflicting damage on the man, "The rest of you care to take me on?" he asked, still smiling at the men.

Another man shouted as he ran at Isaak with a large club in his hands, bringing it down towards Isaak with as much force at he could muster.

"You clearly don't think before you act," Isaak said, "Rune Card Magic: Rune Shield!" he shouted, throwing up a handful of cards out in front of him in order to generate a magic shield. The club continued coming down until it was suddenly stopped by the shield, catching the man holding it off guard, "Looks like I win again," Isaak said as he moved in close and punched the man right in the gut, causing him to drop the club. The other three men attempted to attack Isaak after that, but they didn't get very far, "You all are rather annoying. Rune Card Magic: Barrier Trap!" he yelled, throwing out several cards at each of the men. The cards arranged themselves around the thugs before generating a magic barrier and trapping them inside, "Really, how can you all be so stupid?" Isaak asked with another smile as he slid his glasses up by his index and middle fingers. He then glanced over at Ace and Jay, who had handful of bandits surrounding them.

"Ready to put that training to good use?" Ace asked, glancing back at Jay.

"You know it," the younger man answered.

"Then let's get started!" Ace shouted, pulling out a sword from both side holsters. The ones he pulled out were his twin, steel katanas, each deadly sharp and balanced perfectly. One had a handle wrapped in black cloth, being named Yin, while the other was wrapped in white cloth, being named Yang, "X Marks the Spot!" he said as he slashed the swords across each other, sending out a large black and white 'X' towards the bandits.

"Wyvern's Fang!" Jay shouted, calling forth his go-to sword. It was a one-handed, cutlass-like sword with a hand guard that was said to be made from an actual tooth from a wyvern, "Air Wave!" he announced, slashing his sword forward to send out a burst of concentrated air into the middle of the 'X'. This forced Ace's attack to move at a higher speed, keeping the thugs from being able to dodge it. The mixed attack of darkness and light magic hit the bandits dead on, exploding on impact. They all instantly fell to the ground, smoke wafting off of them and scratches across them from the added force of the concentrated air, "Hell yeah!" Jay cheered, as he turned to give Ace a high five, the older man returning the gesture.

While the fighting continued, Cordelia had managed to keep an eye on all of it along with her own fights, Van Black and making sure that Seth was actually all right to fight. In the midst of her watching everyone else, she didn't realize she was out of bullets until it was too late.

"Christ! Watch yourself!" Van shouted, pointing a revolver over Cordelia's shoulder to shoot at the man that was targeting the guild master. She pulled the trigger without hesitation, hitting the man in the leg, "Reload already!"

"Yeah, yeah," Cordelia mumbled as she called forth two new cartridges of bullets for both of her pistols. She quickly reloaded and was back to shooting off the rounds at the thugs, "Where the hell do they all keep coming from?!" she shouted, watching as her mages had to keep taking on wave after wave of bandits.

"Does it matter?" Van asked, the two women standing back to back, "Just keep taking them out!"

"Hey! Who's the guild master here?!"

"Blame it on the pirate blood," Van mumbled, "Where's the rest of your guild anyways?"

"Uh…heavy sleepers?" Cordelia offered, only receiving an eye roll from the other woman.

While the two women continued shooting off bullets, Seth was doing his best to keep the thugs from reaching them. While he wasn't one for starting fights, his instincts had been shouting at him to protect his guild master, allowing him to ignore the growing pain in his wounded leg. His tiger form gave him an added bonus in both strength and speed, giving him an advantage over the bandits around him. It might have been an overly large advantage, but he wasn't about to let them get the upper hand during the fight.

He charged one man, quickly jumping up into the air before coming back down with a fist at the ready. Unfortunately for the man, he hadn't been quick enough to move out of the way and took to the full force of the hit. Seth's fist landed right in his gut, slamming the man against the deck and even creating a small dent under him. Two other men tried to come up behind Seth then, attempting to take him out with some lead pipes. Seth was quicker though, having sensed them instantly. He zipped behind them, causing confusion between the two men and giving Seth a distraction to work with. Before either man could figure out what happened, Seth slammed their heads together, causing them both to slump to the deck in unmoving heaps. He then turned to take on the next wave of men, but as he did, pain shot up his wounded leg and had him falling forward.

"Seth!" Cordelia shouted as she watched the large man go down. Her eyes narrowed as she watched a man bringing down a wooden club with nails through it towards Seth. She recalled her pistols then and brought forth the large shotgun from earlier. She took quick aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet easily busted through the club, causing splinters of wood and loose nails to explode outwards. The man holding the club threw his arms up in agony over his face, as pieces of wood and a few nails had hit him. While the shotgun had stopped the one man, other men started to gang up on Seth while he was down, causing Cordelia to break away from Van in order to help him, "Back the fuck off!" she shouted as she kicked one man in the back to get him to move. Just as a foot was coming down towards Seth's head, Cordelia pointed the barrel of the gun in the man's face that was about to stomp on him, "Do it and I'll shoot," she warned lowly.

The man froze in that moment, too afraid to do anything with a shotgun pointed at him. Though, in the same instant, gunshots went off from an area that Van wasn't in. Cordelia turned to see that a couple of bandits had now pulled out guns, managing to catch Isaak off guard. Isaak watched with wide eyes as the bullets rushed closer and closer to him. He attempted to reach for some cards to create another shield, but he had run out of them from the current pouch he was using. He tried to grab for another pouch, but he knew that he didn't have enough to unbuckle it and throw out the cards.

"Shit," he cursed.

"ISAAK!" Cordelia shouted.

**. : + : .**

An overly large, white ship moved along the ocean not too far from the island of Nube. In another twenty minutes or so the ship would be able to see the island come into view. This ship happened to be the main vessel used for the Western Naval Forces of Earthland. Across the main deck, a low ranked officer ran as quickly as he could to reach the main office of the boat, which he hoped one of his three commanders were in after the phone call he had received. He finally came to large, white double doors with golden doorknobs. He knocked hard three times, hoping he would receive an answer.

"What is it?" a gruff voice asked from inside.

"Vice Admiral Bern Eversaw!" the man shouted, "We just received an urgent message from Nube!"

"Stop shouting through the door and come in already," the same voice ordered.

The man stepped into a nicely decorated room with plush chairs and a large oak desk. The room was lowly lit, causing the three figures in the room to be covered mostly in shadows, but he quickly recognized the Vice Admiral sitting behind the desk. He noted that the other two figures were the two Captains of the Western Forces. One was a young woman who was lazily reclined back in one of the plush chairs. The other was a man just a year younger than Bern himself who stood stiffly beside the desk.

"What was the message?" Bern asked, his face mostly shadowed by the room's lighting.

"Well, it appears that a large fight has broke out in one of the ports. It's scaring many of the residents and they're afraid that it will soon move further inland and put the civilians in danger."

"Did they mention who the fight was between?"

"It looked like thugs mostly," he answered, "But there was mention of it happening on a large fleet of ships and a few people had seen a marking on some of the fighters. A cracked helm to be specific."

Bern's body tensed at the mention of the marking and large fleet, 'Finally a fight worth getting mixed up in,' he thought as he peered over at his Captains. He saw that they had both become much more intrigued by the conversation now, but they were sadly mistaken if they thought he would be sending them out to investigate. It would only cause much bigger problems if he did, "I will handle this matter on my own," he finally said, "No one else needs to come with me."

"But sir!" the male Captain began to protest.

"No one else," Bern repeated in a harsh tone, "I've been needing a good fight for a while now. Do you really want to be the one getting in my way of that fight?"

"No sir."

"Good. I'll move on ahead myself on one of our smaller boats," Bern said as he stood up. The thirty-one year old stood tall at an intimidating 6'7". That intimidation was only added by the lean and muscular build he had to him. As he began to move forward, the light from outside the office revealed more and more of him. His white hair was short and spiky, a few pieces of it falling into brown eyes. He had a fair complexion, but that complexion was marred by scars all across his body, the most prominent being the foot long, jagged marking across his torso. He was dressed in a pair of black, dress shorts that ended past his knees, heavy boots and a dark blue captain's coat that was simply draped across his shoulders. He was shirtless underneath, showing off his muscled torso and the scars that covered it.

"Make sure you say hello to them for me," his female Captain said with a lazy smirk.

Bern stopped near the doorway to glance back at her, "Just make sure the two of you stay here. You'll piss me off otherwise."

"Ohhh, so scary," she replied.

Bern simply grunted at her as he pulled out a blue toothpick from the inside of his coat and began chewing on it. He then looked over at the man that had come to give him the message, "Make sure we get more blue toothpicks from the next town we stop in. I'm getting low."

"Yes sir!"

"Also, don't go causing problems while I'm gone," Bern added as he picked up a large, black halberd and placed it in the holster on his back. The weapon was also currently covered in a black sealing cloth, "You two seem to do that quite often when I leave on my own."

"It's all her fault!"

"He just doesn't know how to have a good time."

"Whatever," Bern huffed as he walked out the door, "Do anything stupid and you'll earn an hour's sparring time with me when I get back."

"Harsh," both Captains replied.

**A/N: **And there we are! Hope you all enjoyed it!

* * *

**Credits**

**Bern Eversaw - Origm2012**

So first off, I would like to apologize on being a bit late with this chapter. I thought I would be able to finish by Sunday or even Monday at the latest, but I was moving over the weekend along with having to do a couple other things, and I was just worn out. Seriously…I crashed at friend's place during the process of moving and I legit fell asleep on top of my computer while Thor: The Dark World was playing. I never fall asleep when Thor is on the screen, lol. I mean, have you seen that man smile?! Ahaha…anyways, so needless to say, it was a super busy weekend and I didn't have the energy to make myself write. But things should hopefully be back to normal now, so expect another update for this story on Sunday!

And we got to meet our first Vice Admiral! I've been so excited to introduce Bern too! I can't wait to use him in a fight scene for the next chapter! It's so awesome how I keep picturing it in my head! So I hope he turned out well for you all!

There was also going to be another fight scene in this chapter with Securus, John and Daniel, but that got pushed to the next chapter, mostly because I liked where this one ended and I still got a cliff hanger in there! Expect to see many more of those in the near future! Muwhahahahaha!

Anyways…

Holy crap! We're over 200 reviews now! You all are just so awesome! I didn't expect things to turn out like this for this story, but I'm very happy to see that so many of you are enjoying the story so far and with only 14 chapters down. I can't imagine where we'll be in like another 40 of them! But thank you all for your continued support and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story!

Now onto those lovely reviews! Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Benthino - **Haha! Well I'm glad you're enjoying the quick updates so much! But still, no heart attacks! And yes! So much is about to happen, especially now that we get to see the Naval Forces appear! CHA! Although…I'm not sure about those ninjas, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Yeah, I had myself laughing while I was writing that opening scene, so I'm glad to hear you liked it too. And yep, someone actually likes Gordon! Really…I'm beginning to like him more and more myself, but that's mostly because I finally figured out all of his history now. And yeah, Gamu made his next appearance! I can't wait to introduce Duke! But like you said, that won't be for a while. Haha! That song makes another appearance! Yeah, the twins are pretty interesting in how they act around each other and other people. And that land sickness list keeps growing, doesn't it? I figured you would take that as a teaser, lol. And I hope I did Bern justice for you! I've been so excited to write him into the story ever since you sent him into me, so I really hope he turned out well! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Ogrespi - **I don't like keeping you all waiting that long for an update, so I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the quick updates. That's why I felt so bad for missing this Sunday's update! T.T But I'm glad that you like that scene with Kasra and Gordon in the last chapter! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **Yep, that was a fun chapter to start setting things up! Which are starting to happen this chapter now. And yeah, that pride of Cordelia's can get the better of her most times, but thankfully she didn't ruin the meeting between her and Van in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yeah, Gordon just keeps getting the short end of the stick, lol. Haha, and yeah, creeping just going all around the guild! I can see the Judge vibe you get from Duke, but I will say that he's not gonna be as…uh…brutal? That's the best word I can think of, lol. I suppose you'll see when we meet Duke. Glad you picked up on that Dark Water. You'll want to remember that for later chapters. Yep, the twins don't like authority, Alexander more so. And we got some explanation on Blackstroker this chapter, but I'm sure there will be more in the future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Yeah, the poor guy got freaked out by the possibility of magical back up! Yep, Cordelia is already running herself thin, poor girl! And I'm glad you liked the scene with Devin! He does seem to have a problem with women and guns, doesn't her? LOL! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Glad to hear that you enjoyed those scenes with Gordon! I was hoping you would! Yeah, eventually Cordelia will figure out how to balance things out and rely more on the people around her, but for now she'll try to carry all that weight on her own. And I'm glad you're still liking Gamu! He is just too cute! :3 More on Duke to come soon! I haven't forgotten about the twins, lol! And sorry for missing the scheduled Sunday update, but we should be back to normal now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Yay! Glad you liked that fanning moment! And that you're still liking Gamu! I love writing him! And it seems that Devin keeps finding himself at the other end of a gun barrel, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**AkumaXHwaorang - **No worries on the reviewing. But I'm glad that you're enjoying how the story is coming along so far! And that the characters seem in character still. That is something that I worry about. And yes! A battle between marksmen is about to happen! I try to catch myself on how often those phrases are used, but the advice is appreciated and noted! I'm liking the planned updates myself…minus the fact that I missed this past one, but ya know, moving interrupted that one, lol. And yeah, I thought it was time that Gamu made another appearance, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed his scene! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **^.^ Glad to hear that you liked Van's character! And yeah, there are a handful of them with that land sickness, but at least Alai was able to push through it. But yeah, Gordon and Zipporah. I think that's gonna be an interesting duo, so watch out for that development. I guessed there would be a few of you that were ahead of me time wise, so Storm's Helm Monday for you then hopefully from here on out. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **Yeah, things are definitely starting to heat up now, especially with this chapter! I hadn't really thought what would happen with Securus if he got hit by one of those magic cancelling bullets. It probably would cause some big problems though, so let's hope he doesn't get hit with one of them! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Sigh…yeah…Gordon, lol. Just give him some time and hopefully he'll slowly redeem himself! But yeah, super awkward for Gordon with Kasra watching him! Yeah, Cordelia definitely needs to find that balance, but it'll probably take a while before she actually does. The twins are a bit like the TS twins. I don't think they're as outright mean and rude as the Cipini twins, but there is that same trust issue between the two of them. But at least Devin was able to keep them mostly in line. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter and the beginning scenes! Haha! Yeah, Gordon has himself two admirers! And I figured it was time for Gamu to show up again, so I'm glad you liked his scene too. Yep, Alexander is still wary of Cordelia, so that's something they'll both have to work on. And Blackstroker is alive! What a twist! Haha, couldn't help myself with that. Sorry for missing this Sunday, but things should be back on track now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**CryptozoologyConundrum - **LOL, more on Zipporah's interest in Gordon to come soon! But I'm glad to hear that you're liking the way he's being portrayed so far. And I had been picturing the same thing for that last scene, so it's awesome to hear that you saw it the same way! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

You should see another update on Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	15. Three VS One!

**A/N: **WHOO! A new chapter! And on time too!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 15: Three VS One! A Guild Against a Vice Admiral!**

**April 10, X792 - Evening**

John continued skipping the small group until it became too much for him to do so, but at least he had gotten them far from the guild and into a small tropical forest. They would be able to take on Daniel here without having to worry about civilians either. Once they were solidly standing on the ground, John lifted his hand from Securus's shoulder, stumbling back slightly from the amount of magic he had used at one time.

Securus wanted to check on John to make sure he was all right, but Daniel didn't give him that chance. The pirate pulled out a short, bronze sword with a brown hilt from his boot and moved forward to slash Securus with is. Securus managed to dodge to the side, watching as the blade moved right above his shoulder. The marksmen made a counterattack with the blunt end of his rifle, smacking Daniel in the head with it. Daniel took a step backwards to keep himself from falling, but he was soon slashing at Securus again. Securus was thankful he had speed on his side as it allowed him to dodge the blade much easier. That and it seemed that Daniel wasn't the most skilled when it came to using the sword. He guessed he had it on him for situations just like this one. Being a marksmen or sniper meant that he would be more skilled at mid to long range fighting, but it was always good to have a back-up plan just in case. Securus had to give the man a few points for being prepared. Though, his annoyance with the man quickly rose when he finally felt the sweep of metal across his face, the blade biting into his skin.

"Looks like you ain't as fast as you thought," Daniel smirked.

"I wouldn't get too cocky now," Securus said as he swung his rifle upwards. It slammed into Daniel's chin, his teeth clacking together hard.

"Bastard," Daniel hissed out, holding his mouth after the hit. He swished the blood in his mouth around, having bit his tongue in the process of his teeth being smashed together, before spitting it out on the ground beside him.

"I told you not to get cocky," Securus said, spinning his gun around to hold it in its correct position. He quickly aimed it at Daniel's feet and pulled the trigger, causing the man to dance around like he had done before on the large rock out in the ocean.

'_You won't get anywhere like that. Just let me play with him already!'_

Securus felt his brow furrow at the sound of the voice again, but he refused to give into it. He could win this battle on his own and he wasn't about to take the chance of letting _him_ run wild. Securus wouldn't be able to take back over until _he_ was satisfied.

'_What are boring vessel you are! You know you're dying to see that man's blood run!'_

"Shut up already!" Securus shouted.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Daniel asked, "You fucking crazy or something?"

Securus felt anger rise through him at the man's questions, "I'd suggest keeping those kinds of comments to yourself or else you'll end up with a bullet through your head."

"You haven't really taken a real shot at me yet, so I doubt that'll actually happen," Daniel continued, egging the man on, "And shooting in such close range must be hard for you. Makes it easier for me to dodge since you don't have a lot of time to aim. Too bad you don't have a back-up weapon."

'_Let me tear him apart already!'_

Securus gnashed his teeth together between having to listen to Daniel and the voice in his head, "John!" he barked out, "Can I get some help already?!"

John shook his head to clear away his dizziness, looking up to see Securus in battle with Daniel, "Duck!" he demanded. As soon as Securus was out of the way, he shouted, "Void Blast!" This sent out a black sphere of magic right at Daniel, hitting him in the chest. Void Magic may have appeared to be related to Shadow Magic, but it's properties were much different. While shadows can be considered the lack of light, voids could be considered the lack of magic. So instead of just simply hitting Daniel, the blast circled around him in order to stay attached to him and attack his magical reserves.

"What the hell is this shit?!" Daniel shouted, feeling something pulling at the magic he held within him to power his Target Eye.

"Keep him busy for a bit, will ya?" Securus asked, looking over at John when he came to stand next to him, "I need to light up a cigarette real quick."

"Seriously? Right now?"

"Yeah, right now. I need to put some distance between us and I have a way of doing that while also hurting him at the same time."

John eyed Securus for a moment before he sighed, "All right, but I hope you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry so much. I am S-Class for a reason."

John nodded at him and stepped forward to face Daniel while Securus pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his coat. While Securus was busy lighting up the smoke, John pulled out his Impact cutlass he had been using earlier. He swiped it downwards in a diagonal line, the invisible force smacking into Daniel and sending him back into a tree trunk. The Void Blast had dissolved away by this point in time, but Daniel could tell that it had eaten away at least a fourth of his magic.

"This is some real annoying shit," Daniel grumbled as he pushed himself back up to his feet. He then pulled out the gun from his right side and cocked it as he aimed it at John, "It's been fun playing with ya'll, but I've got a map to get back."

John charged towards him, thinking that the Impact Magic within his cutlass would be enough to stop the bullet if he pulled the trigger. Though, Daniel managed to find enough energy to jump up and over the attack, pulling the trigger in mid-air. A white bullet flew out of the barrel and into John's right shoulder. John only felt the pain for a split second before his entire body went numb. He was unable to move and soon found himself falling to the ground.

"That would be my paralyzing bullet," Daniel smirked as he landed on the ground beside John. He pressed a boot hard into his back and aimed the gun at the back of the man's head, "I guess there's no blaze of glory for you at the end."

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he heard Securus speak right behind him.

"Light the Fuse," Securus said as he plucked the lit cigarette from his mouth. He then loaded the cigarette into the rifle and aimed it at Daniel's back, "You want a blaze of glory?" he smirked, "Then I think I might have what you're looking for," he said as he pulled the trigger. He infused his magic into the gun, taking on the properties of the cigarette loaded in the barrel. The rifle fired out a large cloud of smoke and flame, flinging Daniel's body off of John and through the forest. Securus could hear large crashing noises off in the distance, but he could no longer see Daniel, "At least now I have some room to work with," he said before turning to look down at his fellow mage, "You all right down there?"

"I can't move," John answered, "How am I supposed to complete my chores if I can't move?!"

"Yeah, you're just fine," Securus sighed before igniting his Hawk-Eye. He zoomed in and out around him, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man he had sent flying a moment ago.

"You really should have kept me close by!" Daniel shouted, his voice echoing through the area they stood in, "Now you'll be shit out of luck. You're not the only one who has special sniper abilities. And you're down a mage too!"

"You'll lose the moment I spot you," Securus answered.

"Not unless I get to you fist. And seeing on how I know exactly where you are, I highly doubt you're gonna win this little contest. I'll use my paralyzing bullets on you too just like your friend! That way you can see me when I land the final blows on both of you! It'll be glorious!"

Securus made sure to stay calm and near John in order to cover the man while he was down. He continued looking around for Daniel, just needing to catch the smallest glimpse of him.

"That eye of yours is pretty interesting!" Daniel continued, "But it's no competition for my Target Eye!"

"Target Eye?" Securus questioned.

"Curious, are we? Then I'll show you what it's about!" From within the forest, Daniel lifted up his eye patch to reveal an eye with a red target sign instead of a normal pupil. This eye allowed him to focus in on an enemy with perfect aim, the man never having missed an enemy while the eye was activated, "Say goodnight," he smirked.

'_To your left, you idiot!'_

For once Securus was happy to have that voice in his head. He turned to face the way the voice had told him just in time to see Daniel peeking over some bushes as he pulled his trigger. Securus took aim with his own gun and quickly pulled the trigger. The bullets raced towards each other and had soon cancelled each other out once they had made contact with the other.

"What?!" Daniel shouted, "There's no fucking way!"

Securus simply smirked in reply as he took aim again. He soon had Daniel racing throughout the forest now that he had his sights set on him. Though, he quickly came to the point where he needed to reload the rifle. Figuring he had scared Daniel enough to keep him at bay, he took a moment to pull the extra bullets from the belt across his chest. He moved as quickly as possible to get the gun reloaded and to return to shooting at the pirate. He soon had the bullets locked into place, but he felt a presence coming up behind him before he returned to his previous actions.

He turned sharply, making sure to aim the barrel at whatever was coming up on him. He suddenly found himself face to face with Daniel, the man scowling at him while he had his own gun aimed at Securus.

"Well shit," Securus said right before both guns shot off in loud echoes.

**. : + : .**

"ISAAK!"

Isaak vaguely heard Cordelia's shout, but he wasn't able to really pay attention to her as he watched the bullets get closer to him. He thought about the impending pain to come, closing his eyes and embracing himself for the bullets about to hit him. Though, that pain never came. Instead, a haze of blue smoke with crackling, white energy appeared in front of him. In the next instant, a huge white wolf materialized out of the smoke. It easily stood at 4'3" on all fours with large fangs and an ornate, gold and black rounded headpiece. Sharp, black eyes stared out at the thugs, the pupils glowing with a golden light.

"Lunar Wolf Magic," the wolf spoke with a female's voice, "Light Drive!" she barked as she coated herself in magic before charging towards the thugs that had shot off the bullets at a high speed. This move easily stopped the bullets in their path as she continued towards the enemy and hit them dead on, the headpiece she wore giving her more protection as well as acting as a bludgeon when she hit them. Any of the men she hit either went skidding across the deck or went flying off of it completely and straight into the water.

"Rozenolf!" Isaak said after he realized that the wolf had saved him, "But I didn't even summon you."

"If you had been thinking more clearly, you would have," she answered, turning to look at him, "You are quite the lucky human that I can summon myself for you."

"I suppose so," he answered with a nervous smile.

"You're one lucky guy that you have that Elemental Magic to back you up when you run out of cards," Mac said as she ran up to him to make sure he had some extra back up, "Still you shouldn't fight alone even with those summons of yours."

"Seems the woman is proving herself to be smarter than you, Isaak," Rozenolf said, almost looking like she was smirking at him.

"I think it's time to get back to the situation at hand," Isaak said, waving off both of their comments and causing both of them to laugh in response.

"Think you can keep up with me, Isaak?" Mac asked as she slammed her staff down onto the deck. It stayed standing up straight while Mac prepared herself for her next spell.

"Well, I used to be S-Class, so really, you should be asking yourself if you can keep up with me," he smirked over at her.

"Yeah, because I was just the one who was almost shot," she retorted, causing him to falter slightly, "Wood Make: Dual Sabers!" she shouted, creating two sabers made out of the same hardened wood as her staff while also being sharpened, "Here we go! You can follow my lead!"

Mac jumped in towards the men running at them, slashing downwards with her blades. She managed to knock down one man before turning sharply to defend against another man, the sabers stopping the man's own weapon. She kept one saber holding back his blade while she took the flat edge of the other sword and smacked it across his face, knocking him away from her. Three men attempted to move in on her while she was taking on a new thug, but they were easily stopped by Isaak.

"Elemental Rune Card Magic," he began, pulling out three cards from a new deck, "Moon Drive!" he shouted, throwing out a card to float behind each of the men. Rozenolf charged towards the three men, striking one from the front before rebounding off of the card to strike them from behind at an even faster pace. She repeated this process to the other two men before returning to Isaak's side.

"Nice move!" Mac grinned before returning to her own fight.

Cordelia watched the pair's fight in slight relief, but the moment Isaak had been shot at brought up memories that always put her on edge. She gritted her teeth in order to get herself to calm down, but the anxious feelings wouldn't go away. She heard someone nearing Seth again, and so, she turned sharply and swung the end of her shotgun across the man's face before he could even touch Seth. Blood was flung from his head, the hit being powerful enough to leave a large gash. He landed hard on the ground and held the side of his head in pain. Though, panic ran through his veins when he heard the cocking of her gun. Luckily for the thug, Cordelia didn't have a chance to pull the trigger.

Seth had managed to push through the pain in his leg and hold onto Cordelia and the gun from behind, "It's enough Cordelia," Seth said, trying his best to soothe her anger, "You said we weren't aiming to kill, remember?"

"They came onto my guild to kill us!" she shouted, struggling to get out of Seth's grip, "They shot at Isaak!"

"And he's all right."

"It was like that time," she said, her mind stuck on an event from her past that she hadn't let go of yet; an event that always made her blood run cold and filled her with an unforgiving nature. Seth had been one of the few that knew of the event that she was speaking of, the large man having been someone Cordelia had confided in about it.

"It's not like that time," he said, "It's not just you and Isaak this time. We're all here to help this time. Now stand down, Cordelia."

Cordelia stood her ground a moment longer before she eventually came back to reality. Her eyes refocused on the man below her, seeing the blood running down his face. At that sight, she dropped her gun away from him while letting out a heavy sigh, "Sorry," she mumbled.

"You don't need to apologize," Seth said as he released his hold on her and the gun. He moved to fall back on his butt, the pain returning back to his leg, "Just glad to see you back to normal."

Cordelia stayed quiet as she looked down at his leg, "I thought you said you would be okay to fight? You big liar."

"I couldn't let you all fight them off on your own, could I?" he smiled up at her.

"Jack's not gonna be happy about this," she said. Seth simply shrugged at the comment, causing Cordelia to finally smile back at him in return.

"Yo! Pay attention to what's going on!" Ace shouted as he jumped down in front of the pair. He landed on a thug that had been trying to sneak up on them, staying perched on the man's back while he looked over at Cordelia and Seth, "We still have some problems here!"

"I know that!" Cordelia snapped, "Just do what you're actually good at and take them out!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" he yelled as she stood up and walked over to his sister to get right up in her face.

"You know exactly what it means!"

"You're such an annoying sister!"

"Well you're no walk in the park either!"

While the two continued arguing, a bandit charged them with a long sword held above his head to slash down at them. He was quickly stopped though as the pair looked over at him. Cordelia easily shot the sword out of his hands while Ace slashed a katana across his waist, causing his belt to fall apart and his pants to drop.

"Don't interrupt!" the siblings shouted before they returned to their previous argument.

The man stood there in shock and embarrassment while Seth simply laughed at him. Before the man could run away, he was kicked off the deck by Jay as he moved over to join the group.

"Is this really the time for you two to be arguing?" Jay asked, only earning annoyed stares from the pair. He quickly stepped away with a nervous laugh, moving over towards Seth, "Are they always like that?" he asked, looking down at the man.

"Sometimes," he answered, "But they usually manage to keep their wits about them during their battles. It's actually pretty interesting watching them fight together. You haven't gotten to see that yet, have you?"

"No, not yet," Jay answered, "Cordelia was usually busy with her own missions, especially since she was S-Class when I joined the guild. And if Ace went with her on a mission, I never got to go since I still had to work on my swordsmanship and magic abilities. They said I wasn't ready for an S-Class mission yet."

"Well, I hope you get to see it some time soon. Even if they use different types of weapons, they move together as if they were one mage," Seth explained, "Probably comes from being trained by Finn. He can re-quip both swords and guns. So he taught Cordelia how to wield guns and Ace how to wield swords."

"He must be a pretty powerful guy then."

"Probably is. He was the guild master for a long time," Seth said, "But he doesn't fight much now. I suppose he feels he only needs to step in when its absolutely necessary."

A gun shot went off, the bullet whizzing past Seth and Jay to hit a man in the thigh right behind them. They looked up to see Van pointing her gun towards them, the woman having been the one to take out the thug behind them.

"Reminiscing on the battlefield is a sure way to get yourself killed," she said with a straight face, "Pay attention."

"Yes ma'am!" they answered her.

Cordelia and Ace continued arguing with each other while the fighting continued on around them, so they missed the presence of a large form jumping up from a small boat and high up above their deck. The form came down at a high speed, the size of them helping to add to that speed until it crashed down right in front of the Murdock siblings. A large force of magical energy and pure strength had people blowing away from the figure, Cordelia and Ace barely being able to stay standing against it. Once the force had died down, they looked up to see a large man standing before them with a heavy blue coat across his shoulders and a black, wrapped halberd on his back.

"So I was right," he said, his voice low and deep, "It was Storm's Helm causing problems."

"It's Vice Admiral Bern Eversaw!" one of the thugs shouted before he and all the others suddenly began retreating from the area, having already known what kind of power the man held.

Cordelia watched the bandits run off the ship in fear for a moment before turning back towards the large man, "Vice Admiral? You're from the Naval Forces then?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I suppose that comes in handy," she smiled up at him, "Thanks for chasing off the rest of those thugs. They were really starting to get annoying. Ohhhh! If you're in the Naval Forces then do you know a man named Judec?"

Bern twitched at the mention of Judec, knowing exactly who he was. This only added to his want of a fight with the people before him if they knew that man.

"I know a few people in the Naval Forces, but I haven't met you yet. You must be the Western Vice Admiral, correct?" Cordelia continued, holding out a hand towards him, "The name's Cordelia Murdock. I'm the master of this guild."

"You're the master?" Bern asked with a grunt. She was almost a foot shorter than himself, so it made him wonder how she had managed to obtain the position of guild master. He watched her nod her head at him, "Well then, if that's the case," he said, deciding that it didn't matter how small Cordelia appeared to be. If she was the master then she must have the power to back it up, "You will be fighting me today."

"Excuse me?" Cordelia asked, her hand dropping as she quirked an eyebrow. Ace took a step closer towards her, his hands tightening around the handles of his swords.

"You heard me," Bern said as he moved closer towards Cordelia, "You will be fighting me. I received news of a disturbance here and I've come to stop that disturbance."

"And you did by getting rid of the thugs! What the hell is your problem?!" Cordelia shouted.

"And now you're shouting and cursing at a Vice Admiral," Bern continued, "Looks like I'll have to take this fight seriously," he said, feeling excitement run through him at the prospect of the fight about to start, "Show me what you've got, little guild master."

Cordelia's eyes went wide as she watched him pull back a fist and bring it down towards her, 'What the hell is going on?!' she thought, confused as to why a Naval officer would be attacking her when they did nothing wrong. She felt Ace pull her out of the way as the man's fist continued traveling downwards. The amount of pure magical energy and strength behind the punch was enough to blast a hole through the deck, causing shocked expressions to appear on everyone's faces.

"More holes?! Why?! Why is everyone blowing holes in my ship?!" Cordelia shouted, anger stirring up in her again. She called back her shotgun and brought out her chain gun, "Fine! You want a fight?! Then you've got one!" she said, looking over at her brother, "Ace! You're helping!"

"I was hoping you would ask," he smirked as he readied his katanas.

"The more the merrier," Bern said as he turned towards the siblings, "It won't help you much though."

"We'll see about that!" she snapped, "Ace, you keep him busy for a moment."

"Aye!" he answered, "I hope you're ready, big guy!"

"Attack already. I'm tired of waiting," Bern said.

Ace narrowed his stare at him before he charged towards him. Once he was a few feet away from him, Ace jumped up high and slashed his blades downwards while shouting, "Twin Pillars!" This created large pillars of both Light and Darkness Magic that swirled down towards Bern. The large man didn't move though as he watched the pillars race towards him. Instead, he prepared himself for the hit, his raw energy being able to hold off both pillars. While it did manage to move him backwards a few feet, Bern was still standing once the pillars dispersed, albeit with smoke wafting up off of his hands after holding off the two types of magic.

Bern shook his hands casually as he looked over at Ace, "I suppose that was a nice try, but still not good enough to take me out."

"What the hell are you?!" Ace shouted, "There's no way you could have just held back my spell like that!"

"Well I just did," he answered as he started moving towards Ace in order to pick up speed before he released another attack at him.

Though, it was easy for Ace to jump out of the way and land on top of the man. He held his blades at the man's neck, "You may have a massive amount of energy behind you, but that won't save you now with swords at your neck."

Bern stayed calm, not even seeming fazed by having the blades at his neck. He then released a large amount of energy in order to knock Ace off of his shoulders. Ace lost his balance and the grip on his Yin katana. The black wrapped sword fell to the deck in front of Bern, but Ace had managed to keep hold of Yang.

"Ignite!" Ace shouted as he fell to the ground. The sword ignited in Light Magic and Ace swiped it across one of Bern's arms. While the cut itself was painful, it was only enhanced by the Light Magic burning into the cut. Bern shouted out in pain as he swung his arm back and smacked Ace hard in the gut. Ace coughed out the air that was knocked out of him as his body flew backwards and straight into a stack of boxes, wood crashing and flying apart on impact. Bern attempted to turn to go after the man, but he was quickly stopped by Cordelia.

"You better remember that you're fighting two of us here!" she shouted as she shot off her chain gun at the man. The bullets hit their mark, but Cordelia had switched over her normal bullets for blanks, knowing that if she had actually shot him with real ones that the guild would be in real trouble with the rest of the Naval Forces. But she figured that enough blanks should keep the large man at bay.

Bern felt the bullets smack him in the back of the head and across the entirety of his back. The blanks would leaves bruises, he knew that much, but he didn't care as he turned to face Cordelia. She kept on shooting at him while he continued moving forward towards her.

"Are you made of metal or something?!" she shouted as she watched him come closer, "The metal head is the only one that can take an attack like this without showing some sort of affect!"

"I hope you have more than just blanks up your sleeve, little guild master," Bern said, moving into a full out run, "Because you're going to need it," he continued as he pulled back a fist again.

Cordelia readied herself to call forth another gun to use against the man, this time with real bullets. Though, she never had to call it forth as Seth suddenly ran up from behind her and met Bern's fist with his own clawed one. A heavy clash of magic power exploded outwards when the two fists connected. The men stayed standing, pushing back and forth against each other.

"This fight just keeps getting better!" Bern exclaimed, his excitement rising as he pushed away Seth's fist in order to bring down another hit. Seth easily met the next fist with his own, more magic power exploding as he did so. The battle continued this way, the two men meeting fist after fist while a smile spread across Bern's face and a scowl across Seth's.

"It's time for you to leave!" Seth shouted, getting tired of the unending clash of fists. As Bern moved to bring down another punch, Seth took that moment to move around him with his added speed of the tiger form. Once he was stationed behind him, he threaded both fists together and slammed them down onto Bern's back. This caused the large man to slam onto the ground and skid across the deck until his was sitting right in front of Cordelia.

"You come onto my guild and start a fight?!" Cordelia shouted down at him, kicking him to roll him over, "You sure as hell picked the wrong guild to pull a move like that on! Dark Matter!" she yelled, her chain gun being called back as a new gun took its place. A large, cylinder-like gun appeared in her hands with glowing, green cords hooked up across it. In the middle of the gun was a black, glowing cell that acted as the power source for the gun. She then ran over towards Ace's dropped katana and grabbed it as she ran over towards her brother, who was getting up out of the rubble he had landed in, "Ready for that move?" she asked as she handed him back the blade.

"You bet your ass I am," he growled out as he took the sword, "Ignite!" he shouted, causing the Yin blade to ignite in Darkness Magic, "Let's do this!" he said as he threw the dark blade up into the air. He caught it with Yang when it came back down, the light sword keeping it spinning until it as just a ring of black circling around it, "Ready when you are," he said, looking over at Cordelia.

"Good. Looks like he's up to receive the hit too," she said, watching as Bern managed to get back on his feet.

"Bladed Dark Matter!" the siblings shouted. Ace flung out the spinning dark blade while Cordelia shot off her gun, a large sphere of dark matter moving towards the sword. Once it reached the sword, it infused with the Darkness Magic already ignited across it. Bern didn't have time to move out of the way as the point of the sword landed deep in his in his right shoulder, the magic swirling around it exploding on contact. The Darkness Magic and the Dark Matter crawled across the entirety of his body while also burning into the cut the sword had made. If Bern shouted out in pain, no one was able to hear it over the explosion of magic. After the magic dissipated, Bern fell to the deck in an unmoving and smoking heap, the sword falling out and clinking against the deck several times before coming to a stop. Cordelia and Ace turned to each other with large smiles, "Hell yeah! Take that!" they said as they gave each other a high five.

"Damn," Jay mumbled from next to Seth.

"I told you," he said, ginning down at him.

While the siblings were celebrating, they missed the twitch of movement that came from Bern. Soon enough, the man was slowly moving himself upwards, causing the deck to go instantly silent.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Cordelia said as Bern came to stand fully on his feet, a rather excited smile on his face.

"I haven't felt a hit like that in a long time," Bern said, "You three are definitely what I've been looking for," he added, looking between Seth, Cordelia and Ace.

"This dude is a freak of nature!" Jay shouted, "I'm beginning to think the only reason he came here was for a fight no matter who it was against!"

"Finally! Someone gets it!" Bern shouted as he began reaching for his halberd, "You should feel proud of yourself, little guild master. I don't always bring out my weapon of choice. I normally don't need it, but if you've got more moves up your sleeves like the last one, then I think I might have to use it," he explained right as his hands landed on the weapon. As soon as he touched it, more power seemed to pour off of him. His muscles became a bit larger while his eyes darkened a bit, but it was apparent that he was still fully in control of himself.

"His power level just skyrocketed from simply touching that thing!" Mac shouted.

"If that human uses the weapon on this ship, it may tear the guild apart," Rozenolf said, looking up at Isaak.

Isaak's face went ghost white at that bit of information, knowing that Rozenolf was never wrong…about anything, "Cordelia!" he shouted, "We can't let him use that thing on the guild!"

"Well what the hell do you expect me to do?! This dude took a direct hit from the Bladed Dark Matter and he's still fucking standing!"

"Use your Tsar Cannon on him!"

Cordelia thought about her options. If she summoned her Tsar Cannon, it would probably be the last thing she would be able to re-quip that day. She could feel her magic reserves dropping and it took a lot out of her to summon something that large. But she didn't really have any other options left at that point. She needed something big to take out Bern and that was about the only thing that would work without causing too much destruction in her arsenal. And luckily for her, she would probably make a direct hit on him with it too as he didn't seem to be the type to care for dodging all that much. And as if to prove her point, Bern began charging towards her, the axe end of the halberd aimed to come down on her.

"Cordelia!" Isaak shouted in hopes of getting her to summon the cannon, "The guild will go down if you don't!"

"My guild's not going anywhere!" Cordelia yelled as she slammed a hand onto the deck. A large blue seal of magic appeared, "Tsar Cannon!" she shouted, the cannon beginning to rise up on the deck with crackling blue magic surrounding it. Bern continued running towards her, Cordelia being able to feel the massive amount of power that came from the man and the weapon in his hands, "This better work," she said, knowing that if it failed then the guild would fall as well.

"Do it already!" Isaak continued.

Determination was etched across Cordelia's face as she roared out, "FIRE!"

And then there was nothing but the sound of an explosion of force and magical power across the guild.

* * *

**A/N: **There we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Oh man! You all probably hate me now too! What with that cliffhanger in the last chapter and now two in this chapter! In my defense, I did warn you that they would be coming in the near future! But they're always too good to pass up, especially with fight scenes like these!

But I got the chapter finished on a Sunday! CHA! So excited to be back on track with everything! And this chapter has me super pumped up! Now I can't wait for next Sunday myself!

And I'll be seeing Mad Max later on today, so I'm sure that'll get me even more pumped up for action scenes to come! Definitely helps when I've got the Grand Magic Games going on for Thunder Stone too!

Anyways…

I did want to mention that I have received all characters needed for the Naval Forces now. I meant to mention that last chapter, but I totally forgot. So a huge thanks to all of you that sent in submissions for them! They were all great and I can't wait to introduce all of them eventually!

Now onto those awesome reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **More than likely, I will not add a disclaimer for One Piece. While there may be some similarities and inspiration from One Piece, this is still a Fairy Tail story. There won't always be pirates and such in the story. It just happened to turn out that way for the first arc in order for the guild to have an enemy to fight against while they are looking for the treasure. And the treasure itself isn't going to be like the One Piece. It is simply going to be a large enough amount to sustain the guild once they find it, so there's nothing particularly special about it other than it having belonged to Blackstroker at some point. But anyways…I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**DarkHyena - **Yeah, I enjoyed that chat between Cordelia and Van quite a bit myself. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter's fights with cliffhangers as much as the last chapter, lol. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter as a whole!

**Benthino - **Glad I could make your day with a new chapter! And I hope your finals went well! And yep! The Navy has been introduced! Definitely exciting for you readers and myself! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **^.^ Glad you liked Mac's first fight scene! I've been wanting her to have one since she didn't get tot take out those two guys back at the last port. And we'll probably have to wait a bit for an enemy to call her short, but it won't turn out well for them when they do! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Haha, well actually…Isaak wasn't the intended victim for the cliffhanger. Originally it was going to be Securus, but then his next scene got pushed back to this chapter…not that he didn't have a cliffhanger too. But anyways, I wanted to use one and Isaak happened to be the lucky winner! Mostly because I wanted to find a way to introduce his second magic. But I suppose I see it as a plus that I managed to get a good reaction out of you with it. That doesn't happen very often and I must take in the victories when I can! CHA! Anyways…haha, yeah, Cordelia doesn't really pay attention to gun safety anymore…probably much to the dismay and worry of the rest of the guild, lol. YAS! We got to see Bern in action! I hope you can tell why I was so excited about using him after this chapter! But I hope you enjoyed Rozenolf's entrance and the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **I think a few of you got the next clue figured out, but I'm glad to see you all playing along with the clues too! Glad you like Van! She really ended up turning into a character that I quite like! And we found out what happened with Isaak in this chapter, so he's safe…for now, lol! And yep, Bern definitely has that intimidation factor going on! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Haha! If you're wondering about that last cliffhanger, I gotta wonder what you think of the double-whammy you all got this chapter! Glad you're liking Bern and the eventual introductions of his Captains. Haha! And Isaak's still alive! It's too early to start offing people. Just give it some time though…Anyways! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **T.T I'm sorry that I made you wait on that last chapter! But this one is out on time! Glad you're liking Van Black too! And that next island and everything should be coming up within the next chapter or two I think. But yeah, Daniel is definitely digging his own grave right now. We'll be getting a scene with Madmartigan about that soon! So more Black Skulls to come soon! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Yep, Blackstroker's granddaughter and the next clue all in one scene! And you'll have to keep a look out for Blackstroker himself! And I hope you're liking Daniel and his fight scenes! I really had a lot of fun with him against Securus and John. And we got to see a bit of what Bern can bring to the table this chapter! So I hope you enjoyed it all!

**Joshua1277 - **Yep, I wanted Van and Cordelia to get along…and what better way to do that but through the love of guns! And I'm pretty sure whatever you're thinking of for the next island is more than likely to be right, lol. It could be a mix of both those things for the Black Skulls…although, Daniel isn't one to give away money so easily, so more than likely he just scared them into fighting for him. And we got to see some of what Bern can do this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed that! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **There is nothing like some good fight scene! CHA! And we got a bunch more of those this chapter! And yeah…interesting is putting it lightly for Blackstroker, lol! And I can't answer whether you're right or not about that clue…not that it was too hard of a one this time around. But we'll just have to wait and see what it's all about once they get to Nebula. But yeah, the guys in the guild should be pretty cautious, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Yeah, I think tense would describe what's going on very well! And we got to figure out what the guild did once Bern showed up this chapter. Probably a bit different than some of you were thinking for him, lol. But I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

**Origm2012 - **Glad you're liking Van Black. She ended up turning out so much better than I thought she would. And I'm sure whatever guesses you have about the island of fog are bound to be correct as many other reviewers were guessing at it as well. Yeah, I needed a way for Van to be essential to the map, so that's where the drop of blood came in. Luckily for Cordelia, Van liked her enough to do it…if it was the pirates, they may not have gotten the same cooperation from her, lol. Yep, Securus has a voice in his head. We won't find out exactly what it is all that quickly, but I wanted to start introducing it. So I don't think you need to worry about it being the reason he would win his current fight. But yeah, that group was quite a bit for those bandits to take on, despite the way their scene ended in the last chapter. And Seth got to make a comeback this chapter despite that leg of his! Couldn't just leave him sitting there while everyone else fought! And yep…just left you all hanging with Isaak getting shot at! Muwahahahahaha! I can only imagine how you all feel this chapter with two cliffhangers in it! But I'm really happy to hear that Bern came out the way you pictured him! And I hope he continued that way in this chapter for you! Hope you enjoyed the chapter as a whole as well!

**Saiyan God.101 - **Yeah, I think badass is a good way of describing Bern, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**FanficfreakFT - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter as well as Van Black's character! And I'm glad you're loving the story line too! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **Yep! Lots of fighting last chapter! And even more this chapter! But I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter so much! And I hope you enjoyed this one!

**frozenwolf94 - **Yeah, so much went down last chapter! And more going on this chapter! Eventually we'll get to see that other side of Securus, but it'll probably happen later than sooner. Depends on how everything plays out really. And yep! We got to meet our first Vice Admiral! I can see a bit of Smoker in him, but his morals are way different than his as you can tell from this chapter, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

That should be it for this time!

See you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	16. Late Night Promises

**A/N: **Welcome to Storm's Helm Sunday! CHA!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 16: Late Night Promises**

**April 10, X792 - Evening**

Gunshots echoed across the forested area that Securus and Daniel battled in. Everything seemed to freeze, Securus thinking for sure one of those white bullets had hit him. It wasn't until he saw blood fly off of Daniel's shoulder that he realized that he could still feel and move like normal.

"Void Blade," John huffed, a black cutlass made of his Void Magic in his right hand. This cut a long gash across Daniel's body, reaching up his shoulder. It was one of the few spells he had that did physical damage while also attacking the opponent's magical reserves. He held his Impact Cutlass with his left hand, the blade held over Securus to block Daniel's bullet. Securus looked down in time to see the white bullet fall to the ground. Securus then looked up to see that his own bullet had hit Daniel across one cheek and had traveled back to clip him in the ear as well. The Storm's Helm's mages watched Daniel fall backwards, landing on the ground with a heavy thud as he gripped onto the gash across him tightly.

"How?! How were you able to move?!" Daniel shouted, looking back at John.

Securus finally let a smirk appear on his lips as he pulled out a new cigarette to light up, "If there's one thing you should never do it's underestimate a storm," Securus said, blowing out a stream of smoke and moving towards Daniel when he felt John move back from him. He slammed down a foot onto the man's wound, his metal boot digging into it, "Especially when we're the ones controlling the helm of that storm. You never had a winning chance."

Daniel simply spat up at him in response.

"_I'll rip him apart for that! Disgusting cur!"_

Securus gritted his teeth, smashing the end of his cigarette in the process. Between Daniel and the voice, he was quickly losing himself and he needed to put an end to things before that happened. He wiped away the spit with the back of his hand while digging his boot further into the wound. Daniel shouted out in pain as Securus brought his gun to point directly into his face, "Do that again. I dare you," he said with a low, warning tone.

"You won't shoot me."

"Won't I?" Securus retorted, keeping the gun aimed at him.

A sudden explosion coming from the guild's direction interrupted the two men, Securus looking behind him. He could feel a massive amount of energy coming from that direction. He was sure that all the thugs that had been attacking the guild when he left didn't have any type of power like that and he doubted that Daniel had sent for back-up from the Black Skulls since it seemed like he had wanted to get the map on his own.

"Looks like your little guild is in some big trouble," Daniel said with a smirk despite the pain he felt.

Securus whipped his head back around to glare at the man beneath him, "You should consider yourself lucky then. I find my guild a bit more important than taking out some trash like you."

"_What?! Don't stop the fight now! We were so close to taking him out!'_

Securus pushed the voice away as he continued talking to Daniel, "Looks like you failed on your mission as well. You can go back to your captain and tell him about how you didn't get the map. I'm sure he's near by watching you continue being the loser you are."

"Screw you!"

"Nah, I'm good. I do fine with the ladies without having to take up on lame offers like yours," Securus grinned, "Keep in mind who you're up against the next time you try to raid our guild. You won't leave with your life the next time I see you," he said right before slamming the back end of his gun across the man's face and promptly knocking him out. He then lifted his boot from the wound, wiping it across the ground in an attempt to get off as much blood from it as he could. He turned back to see John barely standing, causing Securus to smirk a bit in pride that the man had managed to fight against the white bullet's affects for so long. He hooked his gun onto his back and walked up to the man. As soon as Securus stood in front of him, John felt all his strength leave him once again and his body go numb, causing him to fall forward onto the man in front of him.

"I guess the bullet is still in affect," John mumbled.

"Guess so," Securus replied as he blew out another stream of smoke, "But whatever you managed to do back there, thanks for that. Pretty sure I would have been a goner otherwise."

"Yeah, yeah," John answered, "Just take me back to Jack already so he can get this damn bullet out of me. I don't like not being able to move. Keeps me from doing work."

"At least the fight hasn't affected your personality," Securus said with a low chuckle. He then hoisted John up on his shoulder and began walking back towards the guild, "Let's just hope that our guild is still in one piece when we get there."

**. : + : .**

The large cannonball that was shot off traveled straight at Bern, though the man didn't seem fazed by it. He continued running towards the attack, bringing down his halberd. The axe blade met the cannonball and the two weapons fought against each other for a moment until Bern let out a loud shout and pushed even harder against it. The blade began to slowly break through the metal until it had completely slashed through it, the two broken pieces soaring in opposite directions around Bern. They continued traveling passed him, breaking more crates and tables along the way. They eventually flew off he ship and down into the ocean, causing two pillars of water to splash up after them.

Cordelia watched with wide eyes as the man broke apart the cannonball and still continued towards her. The halberd came down towards her, the blade first hitting the top of the Tsar Cannon since she stood near enough to it that it acted as a shield against Bern for the moment. It continued digging through the bronze of the cannon and it would have sliced completely through it like the cannonball if Bern hadn't suddenly been stopped.

"Porcupine Armor!" Gamu shouted, a plethora of needles appearing through the skin of his forearms. Gamu landed on the tops of Bern's shoulders as he aimed his needle covered arms at the halberd, "Quills!" he said, causing the needles to launch from his arms in a wide, scattered arc. The needles stayed attached to him by magically enhanced thread, the thread shining an opalescent color as the needles flew through the air to wrap around the halberd. Once the weapon had been captured, Gamu pulled back on the threads to keep the halberd from moving an farther.

Cordelia looked up to see that Gamu was barely holding the blade back with his needles and threads. The halberd was still sunk into his cannon, but it had been stopped from going any farther for the time being. Though, Cordelia could tell that Gamu was having trouble holding back the large weapon since he didn't have enough physical strength to fight against Bern for long.

"Someone help him hold back the halberd!" Cordelia shouted, causing Ace and Seth to jump into action first. Ace moved in first and wrapped his arms around Gamu's waist. Seth then grabbed onto Ace's waist and pulled back hard. Cordelia couldn't believe that Bern was still able to fight against three of her men, especially with one of those men being Seth, "Are you even human?!" she asked, looking up at Bern.

"I can assure you that I'm human," Bern answered as he continued pushing against the force holding him back.

"Somehow I highly doubt that!" Cordelia snapped, looking up to her cannon now, "And you broke my cannon! Do you have any idea what I went through to get this thing?!"

"I'll admit that cannon or yours is impressive," Bern said, "But not impressive enough to stop me. And your boys here can only hold me back for so long. What do you plan to do now, little guild master? Feels like your magic reserves were wiped out by that cannon."

"Just because I don't have a gun in my hand doesn't mean I can't still be dangerous," Cordelia growled as she walked right up to the man and slammed a fist right into his gut. He coughed out from the attack, but kept his hold on his halberd and the strength he held behind it, "I may not have massive strength as someone like Seth or yourself, but I promise you that it'll still hurt like a bitch when I hit, especially when you're left wide open like this. You think I wear these rings for a fashion statement?" she asked, showing off a balled fist. The rings that covered her fingers gleamed in the dying sunlight right before she shot the fist forward to smack him in the face. Bern looked away from her for a moment from the force of her punch. When he looked back up at her with a scowl, there was now a bloodied marking from where her rings had hit against his cheek, "Call it a bit of a failsafe," Cordelia said with a dark smirk.

Bern's scowl suddenly turned into a smirk of his own, "You're definitely an interesting, little guild master. Better than I expected even."

"Never underestimate a storm," she said.

"I suppose I'll have to keep that in mind…if you get out of your current situation that is," he said, his halberd beginning to inch forward again.

"Cordelia! Do something already!" Ace shouted when he felt their grip slipping away.

Cordelia looked around her to see what she could do in order to get rid of the man in front of her, "Jesus! Where's Eli when you need him?!" she shouted before looking over at Isaak, "I can't believe what I'm about to do," she sighed, "Oi! Isaak! Use that flirty nature of yours in order to summon that idiot!"

Isaak chuckled at what she had meant, but had decided to play along with her for the time being, "I'm not quite sure what you mean, angel! Why would I want to summon an idiot when I already have you to myself!" he shouted loud enough for it to travel across the guild.

There were sudden loud crashes along with stomping footsteps before Eli suddenly appeared at the top of one of the metal bridges. His hair was a bit disheveled as he looked around with a heated glare. When his eyes landed on Isaak, he shouted, "Marzell!" before making a beeline for the rune mage. The members on the main deck stood there looking stupefied at the appearance of the fire mage, sweat drops falling down the side of their heads.

Cordelia sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose with one hand and catching Eli with the other before he could run passed her, "You're so stupid!" she snapped at him when he finally made eye contact with her, "I should be happy that worked, but I just can't get over your stupidity!"

"What's your problem?! You should be happy someone's defending you!"

"You want to defend me?! Then defend against that!" she yelled as she turned Eli around to face Bern.

"What the hell is that?!"

"That would be a Vice Admiral of the Earthland Naval Forces! I can't believe you didn't hear the fight at all!"

"We all just thought that you were fighting against that Van chick or even Ingrid!"

"You think all that noise was from fighting one of them?! What is wrong with you?! Ace is supposed to be the idiot, remember!"

"Hey!" Ace shouted.

"GAH! Whatever!" she continued, "Just get rid of him before he destroys the guild!" she shouted, pointing at Bern.

"But you said he was from the Naval Forces," Eli mentioned, feeling a bit confused as to why they were fighting someone in a position like that to begin with.

"I don't care! He attacked me, Ace and Seth! Get him out of here!"

Eli's face darkened upon hearing this bit of information. He then looked towards Seth and Ace to see them both looking a bit worse for wear. He glanced back down at Cordelia to see that she was worn out as well, having used up quite a bit of magic. Red fire began to swirl around Eli, the overheated flames licking up off of his skin. He turned to send a glare at Bern.

"You really picked the wrong guild to fuck with," he said lowly.

"I keep hearing that, but I'm still standing on your deck," Bern retorted in his own low voice. Though, he could feel the power surging through the man in front of him, just waiting to be released. Bern felt another smirk make its way across his lips from the mere thought of how right he had been to come searching for a fight against the guild that evening.

Eli's flames began to grow from seeing the smirk on the man's face, even his eyes appearing like molten gold from the sheer heat he was letting off. Cordelia had to step back away from him to make sure she wouldn't get hit by them by accident. She knew how Eli could get when he was angry. Cordelia then looked over towards the three men still holding the halberd back.

"Release the halberd on my mark!" she shouted over to them, earning nods from each of them.

"You might have some massive power behind you," Eli said, being able to feel Bern's own power, "But can it keep you from burning?"

"Guess there's only one way to find out," Bern offered, wanting to push the man enough to attack him.

Eli felt his anger rise again at the man's arrogance, "Time to put you in your place! Red Fire's Inferno!" he shouted as he punched forward with both fists.

As soon as his fists hit against Bern's stomach, Cordelia gave her command, "Release it!"

The three men let go of the halberd and jumped off to the side. Once the weapon had been released, it started moving downwards again, but it didn't take long for it to be flung backwards along with Bern's body in a tornado of red fire. Bern tried to fight against Eli's attack, but he could feel the red fire beginning to burn into his stomach. The red flames danced all around him, catching the end of his coat on fire as well.

"Push him off now, Eli!" Cordelia shouted.

Eli put more force into his attack at her words, shouting as he did so. He felt Bern's feet begin to finally slide backwards, causing Eli to move forward even harder. Soon enough, Eli was running across the deck while Bern was being pushed along with him until they reached the very edge of the deck. Bern tipped back and forth for a moment, watching as Eli prepared himself for the final blow.

"Red Fire's Exploding Kick!" he shouted, turning tightly to slam a fire ignited leg into his stomach. Bern's body was sent flying out into the ocean in a cloud of red flames.

"What a wonderful guild," Bern smirked through the flames until he crashed down into the ocean, water flying upwards from the heavy force hitting it.

Without wasting another second, Cordelia began to throw commands across the ship before Bern had time to get back on the deck, "Someone get Ajax up here along with Squall! I want them adding in power behind the sails!"

Mac nodded at her and quickly made for the dorms to find the two air mages.

"I want all hands on deck, pulling up anchors and defending the guild if Bern tries to get back on the ship!"

Isaak and Jay made their own quick nods before running off to complete their tasks.

"Looks like I missed one hell of a party," Securus said as Isaak ran passed him.

"Looks like you made it back in time," Cordelia said as she turned to look at the pair. Her eyes went wide upon seeing John slung over his shoulder, "Is he all right?!"

"He's fine," Securus answered, "He just needs a little patching up is all."

"Well get him down to Jack then! And take Seth and Ace there too!" she ordered, looking back at the trio of men, "Help him out with that Gamu!"

"Aye!" he answered, helping Seth out since his leg was hurting more than any of the injuries that Ace had.

Cordelia watched the men leave and turned to see Eli approaching her, the fire mage still looking annoyed. His flames had dispersed aside from a small lick of one that hung from a strand of blue hair. Cordelia licked her finger tip before putting it out with her thumb and index finger. It sizzled as it went out, Cordelia shaking her hand to help cool it off.

"I told you not to put any of my flames out like that," Eli mumbled, grabbing her hand to look at it and make sure there wasn't a burn mark left behind.

"I'm fine," she said, pulling her hand away and patting him on the cheek gently, "Thanks for showing up, you big idiot," she added. Though, there was no bite in her words as she smiled up at him.

"Any time," he smiled in return.

"Looks like that Bern guy got to your cannon," Van said, interrupting the two.

Cordelia and Eli turned to look at the Tsar Cannon to see a large cut in it. Cordelia's eyes started to well up with large tears before she flew over to the cannon and hugged it, "My poor baby!" she cried, the tears starting to pour out now, "I'm sorry the big bad navy man hurt you!"

Eli sighed while dropping his head into his hand. Van let out a loud laugh at the woman's antics instead.

"I guess I should be going," Van said, "I got a gig tomorrow night, but you sure know how to show a girl a hell of a time, Guild Master Murdock."

Cordelia pulled herself away from her cannon to face Van, "Well, we appreciate the help with the map and the next clue. You're a good woman, Van Black."

"I think you're the first person since the old man to call me that," Van smirked as she pulled out a cigarette from her jacket pocket, "Here," she said, handing over the cigarette to Cordelia.

"But I don't smoke," she said, sticking her tongue out at it.

"I know, but I do," Van said, receiving curious looks from both Cordelia and Eli, "You did promise me a place to have a smoke on your guild, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then keep that for me. I have a feeling that we'll see each other again at the end of all this. You keep that for me and find my old man's treasure then I'll play a gig personally for your guild. And keep in mind that I never do personal gigs. I never make any money off of them."

Cordelia smirked as she tucked the cigarette away in her own coat, "It'll be here waiting for you then. And you better have those revolvers you promised me too," she said, sticking her hand out towards the woman.

"You got it," Van answered, shaking her hand in return, "Well then, I'm off! Don't let that freak of a Vice Admiral catch you! I'd hate to read up in the papers about how you were arrested or some shit like that!"

"If you read about us in the papers it'll be about how we knocked his ass out!" Cordelia called out, watching as Van began to disappear down one of the metal bridges.

"Now wouldn't that be a great fucking story to read!"

Cordelia smiled at the woman's words as she completely disappeared from view. She then turned back to look up at Eli, "We might have to take on more people like the Vice Admiral. Think we can handle that along with the Black Skulls?"

Eli stared at her for a moment before placing a hand on her head, "So long as we get your Tsar Cannon fixed, I think we'll do just fine," he smiled.

"My poor baby!" she shouted while beginning to cry again as she returned to hugging the large cannon.

"We can get Vi to fix it!" Eli yelled, attempting to pull her off of the cannon, "Shouldn't you be concentrating on getting the guild out of here right now?!"

While the guild worked on moving out of Nube's port at a fast pace, Bern had resurfaced from the ocean. He watched as the mages moved to help push the guild away from the island, the air mages picking up on their speed by using their magic against the sails. He couldn't help the wide smile that appeared on his face as he watched them go.

"You're dead wrong if you think this fight is over, little guild master," he said, "You're still in my jurisdiction and we now have unfinished business," he added before moving to the small boat that he had arrived in. He climbed up into it and began to paddle away in a different direction, "What a glorious fight that awaits us!"

**. : + : .**

Cordelia sat in her office later that night, a lacrima powered lamp being the only thing that gave her light in the room. She was writing down in her journal the events of that day and making small notes about the people they had fought.

She sighed heavily as she took a small break in her writing to look over at the rolled up map next to her, "Is it all really worth it?" she asked despite knowing she wouldn't get an answer. She really had to wonder though. They had been attacked by the Black Skulls today and she knew that it wouldn't be their last attempt to get the map back. And now the Navy was involved too. From the way Bern loved to fight and how he had seemed to greatly enjoy fighting her guild specifically, she was sure he would be hot on their trail too. Then there were her own feelings that she had to deal with after today's fight, "Seeing Isaak in that situation again…" she trailed off as she squeezed her eyes closed. It didn't matter how long or how hard she closed them, the pictures of her memories were still there, painted in red. She slammed a fist on her desk in hopes that the noise would scare the memories away for the time being, "Why does it still bother me?!" she hissed out, "I did what I had to!"

The door to her office suddenly swinging open pulled her back into reality. She looked up to see Securus leaning heavily against the doorframe with a sake bottle in hand, "Evening sweetheart," he mumbled out, "Wassssss such a niccccce night, I didn't want to wasssssste it alone."

"Securus," Cordelia called out gently, knowing the man was drunk without having to hear his slurred words. While he could normally hold his liquor well, there were times that he would overdo it, especially when he hadn't been a solo mission for some time. So Cordelia couldn't find it in her heart to be angry with the man for bursting into her office in the middle of the night and not when he had managed to pull her out of her own bad memories, "Pull up a seat then."

"Don't mind if I doooo," he answered with a sloppy smile. He tried to take a step into the room, but just swayed forward until he was stumbling in order to catching himself. Cordelia jumped up from her seat to try and catch him. Luckily, she had made it in time to keep the man from face planting. Though, in his heavy movements, he dropped the bottle of sake. The bottle smashed to pieces as soon as it hit the wood flooring, the liquor spilling out across the floor, "Whoopsssss."

"It's all right," Cordelia answered, "We can clean it up later, but you should really sit down for now."

"Don't think I can move anymore, sssssweetheart," he slurred as he fell to his knees, causing Cordelia to have to fall with him, "Thisssss looksssss like a good placcccce to ssssssleep."

"Not on my office floor," Cordelia said, trying to get the man to stand back up. Though, it was no use getting him to move when his body was too heavy and limp. She looked down to make sure the sake wouldn't travel near them and soak their clothes, "Please! Please don't let Eli suddenly appear!" she pleaded with whatever entity was listening to her at the moment. She didn't need the fire mage going nuts over her current situation.

Securus fully laid out across the floor, using Cordelia's lap as a pillow. He had grown quiet and for a moment, Cordelia thought he had fallen asleep. But he managed to mumble something that had Cordelia frowning down at him even more than she already was, "_He_ talked so much today."

Cordelia knew exactly who he was talking about and it made her think back to the promise she had made Securus so many years ago once she had made it to the S-Class level.

"_I'll do it! I'll find a way to make the voice in your head go away!" a twenty year old Cordelia announced._

_An eighteen year old Securus just chuckled in response to her declaration, "Thanks for volunteering, but I don't need your help with this, sweetheart. I don't want anyone's pity."_

"_I'm not doing this out of pity!" she snapped, "And don't call me sweetheart! I'm your elder after all!"_

"_I call you what I want," he smirked at her. Though the smirk quickly faded, "Look, I didn't tell you my history just so you could go fixing things."_

"_Then why the hell did you tell me?!"_

_Securus stayed silent for a moment, trying to figure out why exactly he had told her his secrets. Finally, he shrugged at her, "It just seemed right to tell you. You're genuine in your actions and you keep your mouth shut when it matters. So I guess I was just compelled to share with you."_

_Cordelia stared at him with puffed cheeks for a moment, wishing there had been more behind his reason, "Well I don't care what your reason was, I'm still going to help you!"_

"_You don't even know where to start."_

"_So?! I, Cordelia Murdock, promise to bring you peace and get rid of that voice!"_

"_You're such a weird kid," he said, poking her in the stomach._

"_Don't touch me! And don't call me kid! I'm older than you!"_

"_Then sweetheart it is."_

_Cordelia felt her eye twitch in annoyance, but managed to keep hold of her anger, "I promise," she said, looking up at him with a serious face, "I promise I'm going to help you. And I never break a promise."_

_Securus stared back at her with his own straight face. He wasn't sure what she could do to help, but she seemed so dead set on it that he just couldn't tell her no anymore, "Lighten up," he said as he playfully pushed her shoulder, "A serious face doesn't suit you very well. You won't pick up guys with a face like that."_

"_Well if they're all like you, then I don't want them!"_

"_Good thing for you then that Isaak has better manners than I do," he said with a chuckle as he began to walk away._

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"_

"_Not my place to say," he waved back to her as he lit up a cigarette, "But thanks for volunteering, sweetheart."_

_Cordelia frowned as she watched him walk away, missing the person sneaking up on her._

"_Angel!" Isaak said with a wide smile from next to her, causing Cordelia to jump back with a shout._

"_Don't do that!" she yelled, bopping him on the head while he laughed at her._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_Just…uh…" she began, looking back towards the retreating Securus, "Just making a small promise to ensure a problem is taken care of," she answered before jumping onto his back, "Now, let's go do something fun!"_

"Six years," the current day Cordelia said softly, running a hand through Securus's hair as the man had passed out in her lap, "It's been six years since I made that promise. I'm sorry it's taking so long," she said. She looked out across the floor at the broken bottle and spilled liquor again before her eyes landed up on the map again, "It'll really be worth it, right? Maybe I'll find answers on this hunt finally," she continued as she looked back down at Securus, "I really am sorry," she whispered as tears began to pool in her eyes, "And you're not the only one I made a promise to either. What am I supposed to do?" she asked the silence as the tears spilled over.

* * *

**A/N: **There it is! I hope you all enjoyed it!

I didn't think that last scene would get so serious, but I suppose it was time for one like that to happen. But I liked the way it turned out nonetheless! So I hope you all liked it too!

But we should be getting to the next Black Skull member next chapter, so be on the look out for them!

And I just finished watching the series K (or K Project)…though I still have to watch the movie. So I'll probably get some inspiration from that too, especially when it comes to Eli using his Fire Magic at times. But it's a really good series, so if you haven't seen it yet, then I'd suggest checking it out!

I don't think I have much else this chapter, so we'll jump right into those reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**reven228 - **Yep, lots of fighting all around! And it seemed like you all enjoyed all of it! And I enjoy being on a schedule myself. It keeps me writing and it ensures you all get a chapter each week! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **^.^ Glad you enjoyed the opening fight between the three men. But yeah, Securus and Daniel are a lot alike, magically speaking, so it was a lot of fun for me to pit them up against each other. But I'm glad I got you with how that scene ended with Daniel appearing right behind Securus. Glad you liked Rozenolf and Mac's Wood Magic. We'll eventually get to see more summons as well for Isaak. But yeah, Ace and Cordelia argue even in the middle of battle, lol! And yep, there's always something in a past. More to come on that…eventually. Haha! I'm really glad Bern turned out so well for you! He's so awesome to use in a battle! And I'm glad you liked that set up between Bern and Seth. I figured you'd enjoy that. But I'm glad you also liked Ace and Cordelia combining their magic. I had to do some digging for a gun for Cordelia that would work well with Ace's sword and came across the BFG 9000 from Doom and I was like, that's it! That's the gun! LOL! Besides, she didn't have a future-like gun like that yet, so she was gonna get one like anyways even if it didn't mix with Ace's swords. But yes! So many cliffhangers! But I cut you guys a break this chapter, lol…at least I think I did anyways. But I'm glad you're liking all the other OC magic so far too! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Glad to hear you liked the second part of Mac's fight! Haha! Yep! Cliffhangers for both scenes! And Mac and Isaak haven't worked together on a team yet…at least I hadn't planned for it yet, but I figured she'd get a kick out of teasing him since things like that don't happen for often. Yep, Bern is definitely something when it comes to combat, so he makes for some awesome fight scenes. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Saiyan God.101 - **Yep, Bern is badass for sure! It took five of them just to knock him off the deck! And he still made it out alive and ready for more fights! So expect to see more from him in the future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**mrady - **Unstable fighters all around! LOL! But we'll get to see more of that from John later on down the line. But still, Daniel didn't really have a chance, did he? Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Bern is definitely a scary dude if he's all hyped up for a fight, which is most of the time, lol. And yeah, Seth didn't want to leave all the fighting to everyone else, so he had to push through that pain in his leg until it was all over! CHA! And I'm glad you liked that teamwork between Cordelia and Ace. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Haha! I totally went back and re-read that scene with the Tsar Cannon being called forth and now I can't picture anything but Domon calling forth the Shining Finger, lol! And kudos again at remembering that whole bit from G Gundam. But I'm glad Rozenolf turned out well for you too! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **LOL! Yep, she went Captain Jack Sparrow for a moment there! So I'm glad you liked that too! Yep so much action in that chapter! And yes! I love leaving cliffhangers for you all! Muwahahahahaha! But yeah, Bern is pretty crazy when it comes to his fights! He doesn't care who he's fighting so long as it's a decent fight! And I'm sure the rest of the Naval Forces will be just as interesting. LOL, did I worry you all with Isaak? Well he's okay now…until you get him with those shipping wars, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Glad you enjoyed that opening fight with the three men, especially between the two snipers. I hope it ended just as well for you this chapter! It definitely turned into some battle once Bern made an appearance! And since he has all that strength and magical force on his side, it makes it hard to bring him down. I mean, it did take five of them to do it this chapter! But I love using him in battles already, so expect to see more of him soon! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **LOL, I think wow is a good word to use. But I'm glad these battle scenes are turning out well for you guys! There always so much fun for me to write! And I'm glad the characters are turning out well too! I really do enjoy developing each one of them, especially since you all turned in such great characters! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

**Benthino - **Haha! You sound so conflicted with that last chapter! But I'm glad you enjoyed it nonetheless! But I got you all with those cliffhangers! But I hope you enjoyed the conclusion of both fights. And in time we'll meet all the Naval Forces! And we'll probably get Jack's reaction to the fighting next chapter since it didn't quite make it into this one. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Lots of action everywhere! But I think you were one of the only people that said they enjoyed the cliffhangers, lol. But I'm glad they keep you hooked! And yeah, Bern is definitely a little kid in a big body when it comes to those fights! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**FanficfreakFT - **Yep! Always expect cliffhangers! Especially with all those fighting scenes! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **^.^ Glad you enjoyed that last chapter so much! And I'm really glad that you liked the fight with Daniel! And we'll get to find out more and more about that voice in Securus's head as the story progresses! And I'm glad that I could get you to laugh at the line with John and his chores. But yeah, we got our first cliffhanger in that scene! Yep, Isaak got lucky with Rozenolf showing up when she did! Haha, yep, gotta have Ace and Cordelia arguing in the middle of a battle! And more to come on what happened between Isaak and Cordelia in that past mission! Bern is definitely like a one many army! But I'm glad you liked that combo move between Ace and Cordelia! That was really fun for me! Haha! Seems like a lot of members on the guild are heavy sleepers. Or they're like Eli and thought that Cordelia was just having a rival battle. -.-' And yes! Another cliffhanger! But I think I cut you guys some slack this chapter, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad you liked that teamwork between Ace and Cordelia and that combo attack of theirs! I'm sure we'll see more combined attacks like that later on. And I do believe that the inspiration for Bern was Kenpachi, from what his creator told me anyways, so I'm happy to see that you picked up on that! And no cliffhangers this chapter…at least not like last chapter anyways, lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

That should be it for now!

See you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	17. The Mechanic

**A/N: **Hola Mish Amigos! (Kudos if you know what that's from!)

But it's Sunday once again, so here's a new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 17: The Mechanic**

**April 11, X792 - Early Morning**

Daniel made his way out towards an overly large, black ship. The white sails stood out on the dark boat, but they were covered with its insignia of black skulls. He had managed to find a small boat to use from one of Nube's ports. He had been knocked out most of the night and had woken up with dried blood across his head and the wound across his chest still aching and sticky with blood as well. He hissed in pain every time he moved the paddles of the boat, but managed to keep his focus on the large ship that he had no choice but to go back to now.

He sat in his small boat for a moment when he came to a stop next to the larger one, contemplating on if he really wanted to go up on deck or not. He huffed, knowing he didn't really have a choice, and grabbed one of the ropes hanging on the side. He managed to climb his way up to the deck, rolling over the side and sprawling out across it. He laid on his back, staring up at the dimly lit morning sky until it was suddenly blocked out by a face that instantly shot irritation through his entire being.

"You're ruining the view, mutt," Daniel grumbled.

"It's better that I ruin your view than what you pulled on Nube," Mingo retorted quickly with a straight face.

"You better not have said anything to the Captain."

"He already knows," Mingo said, "He watched the entire thing and I gotta say, he's not real thrilled with you right now. I'm surprised you had the guts to even come back here at all."

"Like I had any other choice," Daniel said, "And stop trying to scare me so early in the morning."

"I would suggest taking his warning, Daniel," a deep voice said, sending fear surging through Daniel's body and causing his blood to run cold momentarily. Mingo moved out of the way only to be replaced by Madmartigan, "How are you, Daniel?" he asked with a dark smirk before stepping onto the wound on his chest and pressing down hard.

Daniel let out a growl of pain, but he clenched his teeth to keep it from being a full shout, "I…I'm fine, Captain."

"Really? It seems to me that you're in a bit of pain," he said as he pushed down a bit harder, "You could have saved yourself a wound like this if you had listened to my orders like you were supposed to!" he shouted before sending a sharp kick into the man's side, "I told you not to go looking for a fight with Storm's Helm! You've ruined what little advantage we had against them, you idiot!"

"But Captain," Daniel said lowly, struggling to climb to his knees, "You told me that if I saw a chance to take the map, that I should take it."

"Don't go twisting my words to justify yourself!" the Captain yelled, "I told you that if at all they figure out you're tailing them to get in there and get the map! Instead, you went and attacked them first and gave yourself and our crew away! Now they know we're after the map! And you didn't even get close to taking the map back either! I told you not to underestimate them!"

Daniel stayed quiet, unable to find anything to say to defend himself.

"Tch, now I have to clean up your mess," Madmartigan said, "Since they know we're after the map, I'll be sending in someone that can actually retrieve it successfully. We don't need to worry about hiding our presence since someone already ruined that," he continued, glaring down at Daniel, "Get up and go get yourself cleaned up. You look like shit."

"Yes, Captain," Daniel said as he got up and made his way below deck as quickly as he could.

"Dammit," Madmartigan cursed as he looked out at the rest of his crew, trying to decide on who he should send.

"If I may," Mingo said, appearing next to the Captain, "I know someone who's dying to go after that guild due to the fire they started at the beginning of all of this. She's a bit upset that it destroyed quite of bit of her things. I think it's only fair that she gets her chance at revenge for that."

Madmartigan looked at the man's smirking face and it took him a moment, but he finally realized on who he was talking about, "That may work, especially on that island of fog. That'll give her a bit of extra cover."

"So you agree then?" Mingo asked.

"Yeah," Madmartigan answered, "Micky!" he barked out, a woman moving out from the crowd of the crew to stand in front of the Captain.

The woman's full name was Micky Blakely and she was one of the younger members at the age of eighteen. Though, she wasn't to be underestimated due to the type of magic she had that made her the unannounced mechanic for the Black Skulls. She was a fairly short woman at 5'2" with sun kissed skin and a thinner frame, giving her a boyish look, especially with her chest taped down. Her blue hair was cut short and messy, but her eyes were wide and a soft blue. She wore a black, mechanic's outfit with a large zipper on the front of it. The top half of the full body suit was pulled down to hang at her hips, showing a white tank top underneath. There were also a few bandaids on her arms and one across the bridge of her nose. Finally, there were slight bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep she normally had.

"Yeah, Captain?" she grunted in response.

"As pleasant as always," Mingo smirked down at her. He only received a sharp glare in reply.

"Enough you two," Madmartigan said, looking down at the woman as well, "I have a small mission for you."

"You know that I'm working on rebuilding my collection of scraps right now," she answered, "I don't have time to be doing one of your stupid missions. Send out your first mate there instead."

Just as she turned to leave, Madmartigan said something that managed to capture her attention greatly, "It's a mission that comes with revenge on Storm's Helm."

Micky stopped and the crew could see the tension rise in her muscles, "Those punks that destroyed half my scraps?"

"Precisely," Madmartigan grinned, "I need you to retrieve Blackstroker's map for me from them and you're more than welcome to take out your anger on those little mages that messed up our bar and your materials."

"No holding back?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.

"No holding back," he answered, "But you might want to be a bit careful. The Navy is now involved. The Western Forces to be exact and you know how those Captains can mess with your magic."

"I can handle those two assholes," she grumbled, "But fine, I'll go."

"Good girl," Madmartigan smirked, "Head out as soon as you're ready. They should be heading to Nebula next. It's not too far from here."

"I know where it is," she snapped as she pushed crew members out of her way. She threw most of her scrap metal into a large wagon, though she would normally have two wagons full if the fire had destroyed half her supply. What scraps she left on the ship, she would use with her magic to create a floatation device to head to Nebula, "Scrap Build: Hydra!" she shouted. The loose scraps on the ship began moving, linking together to create a three headed hydra in the water. Micky then jumped onto the back of the creature, bringing her wagon with her, "I'll be back soon."

"Don't you go underestimating them either," Madmartigan said.

"I know what I'm doing," she answered before moving away from the ship.

"You think she'll be successful?" Mingo asked.

"You were the one to suggest using her, weren't you?" Madmartigan said, looking over at him.

"Yes, I suppose I was."

"She'll be fine," Madmartigan said, "She's a better choice to send to Nebula anyways. Rumor is that's where Angel's Cove is. She'll have an advantage over the rest of you idiots at least."

"Let's just hope her grumpy attitude won't get the better of her," Mingo said, laughing nervously when Madmartigan narrowed his stare at him, "I'm just…uh…gonna go check on that idiot Daniel," he said before disappearing down below deck.

Madmartigan watched him disappear before turning back to look out at the ocean, "Even after all these years, your guild is still causing me problems, Duke Ramirez. Is this my punishment for what I did to you?"

**. : + : .**

"Honestly," Nanami huffed after making sure Securus had made it to the bathroom in time before he got sick, "Sometimes I think you may be more trouble than you're worth, Securus-kun."

"Yeah, but I see you're still adding the kun to the end of my name, so it can't be all that bad, can it?" he asked before heaving into the toilet.

"Finish getting sick before you try making smart remarks," Nanami said from outside of the bathroom. She gave him a few more minutes alone before it finally went silent. Once she was sure that he was finished, she walked back into the bathroom to see him sitting across from the toilet, leaning up against the wall, "You should probably get up and brush your teeth now."

"Just give me a moment to recuperate here, Shiraki," he grumbled.

"I think you had plenty of moments last night," she said, narrowing her eyes at him, "You really messed up, I hope you know."

"Messed up? I fought off that Black Skull idiot, didn't I?"

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it."

Another moment of silence passed between them, Nanami continuing to stare down Securus while he looked away to stare at the floor.

"I drank just a little too much, so what?"

"So what? You made Cordelia-san cry," she answered, frowning at him.

Securus chuckled at this, "Yeah right. You're making that up."

"She was crying! You were just too drunk and passed out to realize anything!" Nanami snapped, causing Securus to go quiet again, "I know you have a lot to deal with, all of us S-Class mages know this aside from Jean since he's so new, but you can't go around drinking yourself stupid and then ending up in Cordelia's office. It takes a toll on her too and she already has enough to deal with."

"So…I really ended up in her office?"

"Yes. You stumbled in, dropped a sake bottle and mumbled something about that voice of yours before promptly passing out on the floor."

"Ah, geez," he sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I should apologize."

"Normally I would say you should too," Nanami said, "But I think you should leave things alone this time. Cordelia-san seemed pretty shaken up last night when Matilda-san checked up on her. You're lucky that the woman had enough sense to come to the S-Class mages first. If Isaak-san and Eli-san hear about this incident, then I'm sure you will need to write up your will much earlier than one should."

"Guess we'll need to make sure they don't hear about it then," he said, attempting to smirk up at her. Though, it quickly faded, "So what was she crying about then? Did you ask?"

"Something about a promise. I wasn't able to get much out of her before she disappeared somewhere with Seth."

"She's still volunteering for that then," he mumbled.

"Volunteering?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I'm fairly certain it's too late for that," she stated, "But I suppose I can talk to you about this later. You should really brush your teeth and get a shower."

"Where the hell am I even at?"

"In my room," she answered, digging through one of the drawers in her bathroom, "Couldn't have you getting sick and acting like a fool in front of everyone. I'm the only one on the woman's S-Class dorm ship, so it was more private."

"You sure you didn't just want to get me in your room alone?"

Nanami sent him a flat stare before throwing the toothbrush she had dug out from the drawer at him, "Get cleaned up," she said before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her.

"Oi! You know I need a towel and a change of clothes unless you want me walking around your room naked!" he shouted. The door was suddenly thrown open and a towel was slammed into his face before it was closed shut again, "Thanks love!"

**. : + : .**

Regina moved around the kitchen at a quick pace, having been baking since three in the morning. She was never able to settle down when she was worried and her daughter showing up in the middle of the night with Seth looking shaken and sad had her more worried than ever. Over the years, she had found that baking was one of the only things to keep her mind busy when she couldn't sleep.

Just as she was finishing up her most recent batch of cookies, there was a solid knock on the front door. She popped her head out from the kitchen to glance at it for a moment before another knock came again. She set the cookie tray on the oven before heading towards it and opening it to find Eli on the other side of it.

"Eli?" Regina questioned, a bit surprised to see him there.

"Morning," he answered with a small smile as he glanced into the home, smelling all the sweets she had baked, "Looks like you had a busy night."

"Come in, come in," she said quickly, shutting the door after him, "You're more than welcome to help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

"Where's the old man?" he asked, looking around for Finn.

"He's up top for the morning talking with some friends."

"I see."

The two went quiet after that as they moved into the kitchen. Eli started to look over everything she had baked when Regina started speaking again, "So what brings you here so early in the morning?"

"Ah, well, Seth told me I should stop by…to see Cordelia," he answered quietly, turning away from the food since he no longer felt hungry, "She's here, isn't she?"

Regina gave him a warm smile, "You're always such a good boy," she said, patting him on the cheek gently. Though, her smile quickly fell, "She was really upset last night. Is she really doing okay as the guild master? I heard about the fight with that Vice Admiral and dealing with the Black Skulls. Maybe…maybe it's too much for her."

Eli laid a hand on her shoulder to silence her, "She's doing fine. Starting out it always a bit tough. You should know that from Finn, yeah?"

"Yes, but…"

"She'll be fine. You know she'd be mad if she heard you doubting her."

"I'm not doubting her, but Cordelia is my daughter, so I just worry a lot."

"I know you do, but she also has a lot of people looking out for her and loyal to her. She'll make it," he smiled, "Now, is she in her room?"

"Yes," she answered, "And Eli," she said as the man began walking away, "Thank you for coming down."

He simply nodded at her before making his way back to the room Cordelia had through her childhood. He came to the closed door that had been painted blue, although it was in dire need of a paint job due to the color slowly chipping off. He knocked on the door a few times, but like he expected, no one moved to open it.

"Still such a kid," he sighed as he opened the door, "At least she left it open this time," he mumbled as he walked in and closed the door behind him. Her room was smaller like the general dorms, but it was big enough to hold a bed, a closet and a desk. The room was still decked out in an ocean theme with the walls being painted blue too and there was a small, round window across from the door. He looked over to Cordelia sitting on her bed, flipping through a journal. She had a few other journals around her that she had filled through the years, "Cor, you should at least answer the door."

He didn't receive an answer from her as she flipped to the next page.

"Oi! Are you listening to me?" he called out as he walked up to the bed and yanked the journal out of her hands.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"So you finally noticed me?" he said, looking down at the journal. He saw that the writing that filled the journal was a bit messier than what she had now, "Is this from when you were a kid? I didn't know you had been writing for so long. Let's see," he said, skimming over the page, "Eli is so stupid! He tied mine and Zinnia's shoelaces together so we would trip and fall. The idiot didn't realize we were sitting right next to the edge of the boat, so we ended up falling over the edge. Dad had to come pull us out of the water and everything! But I guess it was all right since Duke gave him a pretty hard training session later on. I hope he hurts for days from it!" he read, looking up at Cordelia with a twitching eye. He grabbed onto her head tightly, squeezing it a few times, "An idiot, am I? That was one of the worst days of my life, I hope you know!"

"You deserved it! And don't read my journals!" she snapped, yanking the journal back into her possession, "Why are you here?" she asked, pulling the journal to her chest and curling up back on the bed.

"To check up on you. Seth seemed pretty worried about you," he answered, picking up the other scattered journals and setting them on her desk, "Why did you pull these all out? I hope you weren't up all night reading them."

She shrugged, "I just wanted to read them again, that's all. Life was different back in these journals."

"I don't think life's all that different now," he said as he moved up onto the bed to sit next to her, "It's still the same guild, but with more people."

"Then I guess what I meant was that life was easier back then."

"Of course it was. We were kids back then," he said, setting a hand on her head, "But you set out what you promised to do. You're the guild master now, so things are going to be harder."

"Yeah, well, I don't feel like a leader," she mumbled, "I can't even make good on a simple promise."

Eli frowned for a moment, "What promise are you talking about? Is it about-"

"Does it matter which one I'm talking about?! I haven't come through on any of them!"

"Cor, it'll take time to take care of some of them."

"But the longer I take, the harder of a toll it'll have on people."

Eli sighed as he pulled her into a hug, "Look, you aren't always going to be able to make people happy. You can't solve all the worlds problems."

"But I should be able to solve a few of them. I've taken an even longer time on the promise I made you than the one I made to Securus. It shouldn't take this long, Eli."

"Yes, well, you haven't given up though, have you?"

"Of course not!"

"Then that still means something," he said, "Not everything can be fixed instantly. Some things just take longer than others. I know you're trying, so there's no need to stress yourself out about everything. Besides, you'll worry the guild if you keep letting things build up like this. You already have Seth and your mother worried, so lighten up a bit."

Cordelia was quiet for a moment as she looked down at the journal in her hands. She finally sighed and laid it down next to her, "I guess so. And I guess I should say thanks for coming down here."

"You guess?"

"Well I would say it if you hadn't read from one of my journals," she answered, elbowing him in the side.

"Your thank you really sucks, ya know that," he mumbled, rubbing his side, "Now, if you're feeling better, you should get up on deck. We need to make sure we're on track for Nebula, right?"

"You afraid that Matilda and Sam can't handle it?"

"Sam, no, but Matilda might be driving the poor kid a bit crazy by now."

"You make a good point," she said before jumping up onto his back, "Lead the way then!"

Eli simply rolled his eye in response, but he still smiled nonetheless as he made his way out of her room and up towards the deck.

**. : + : .**

"Are you sure about this sir?" the male, Western Captain asked, looking at Bern, "Is it really that important that we go after Storm's Helm? They are a legal guild after all."

"Are you really questioning me right now?" Bern answered, pulling out a fresh, blue toothpick, happy to see that a new supply of them had been picked up from Nube. He began chewing on it as he eyed his two Captains.

"Well, it does seem a bit over the top, even for you, sir."

"Not it doesn't," the female Captain answered, "He just hasn't had a good fight for a while. You really need to loosen that ass of yours up. You must have a pretty big stick shoved up there."

"Excuse me?!"

"Desmond! Kira!" Bern shouted, slamming a hand down on his desk, "Shut up both of you!"

"Yes sir!"

He sat back watching the two of them again, wondering how he had ended up with the two of them as Captains. He supposed their skills made up for their crappy personalities. Although, Bern wouldn't consider himself a good judge of personalities, considering what his own was like, but his Captains were total opposites of each other, so it made it rather annoying most times when they were stuck being around each other.

"So like I was saying before, I want the two of you to go out before me this time. Get them worked up a bit. It's always more entertaining when they've been riled up," he smirked, "Just don't go overboard or do anything stupid," he said, looking towards Desmond more than Kira. The two sighed in response, but nodded at him nonetheless, "All right then, head out to Nebula as soon as you can," he said, waving them out of his office, "Oh and don't think I don't know about the explosion you caused on deck while I was gone. You'll both be cleaning that up when all of this is over," he said, chuckling to himself when he saw them both falter slightly before making their way out of the office.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Micky Blakely - DarkHyena**

So I know that was a bit shorter than usual, but this chapter was mostly setting up some of the things to come for the second clue, but it was still enjoyable for me to write nonetheless, so I hope you all enjoyed it too!

Not too much to say this time around, so I'll jump right into the reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Yeah, it was a pretty intense fight with Bern all the way up to the end! But we also got to see some other mages enter the fight! Yeah, I would say Securus needs a hug at least, lol, not like he got it this chapter though. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **^.^ I didn't know you liked K so much! It's actually the first newer anime that one of my friends and I sat down together to watch and we both liked it. So it's moved pretty high up on the favorites list for many reasons. But I liked most of the characters in it, namely Mikoto…sigh…I always, ALWAYS pick the dudes with tragic pasts or tragic futures! What the hell?! Well anyways, the next step is watching the movie and finding the manga and light novels for it! Thirteen episodes just wasn't enough! Well, anyways, we've had that discussion about Isaak and Cordelia now, so you no longer need to wonder like the rest of the reviewers, lol. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Haha! Bern is pretty ridiculous, but in a totally awesome way! But I'm glad you enjoyed the endings of the battles! And I can't believe you went South Park there for a moment, lol. But we've got some time before everything with Securus and that voice is revealed. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yep, Daniel was totally left behind. No one from his crew even came to get him! But he kinda deserved that. But yes! More Bern to come in the very near future! But first a bit with his Captains! Yep, lots of promises to go around. Between Securus, Eli and I'm sure many others, Cordelia will have her hands full of them! But I'm sure she can do it! CHA! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Nope, Bern definitely won't go down that easily! The dude even got burned by that Red Fire on top of all the other attacks and he's just moving around like it's not big deal! But we finally got to meet another member of the Black Skulls! So I hope you liked that! You're just setting sail so many ships! LOL! Hopefully you came back to that NanamixSecurus ship though! HA! But yeah, definitely a bittersweet moment. I hadn't even realized how sad it was until I went back and re-read it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **That's normally how it goes. We get a bunch of stuff wrapped up, but then we still have so many unanswered questions! Yeah, a sad moment for Cordelia, but like you said, she has all those people looking out for her and everything, so she'll make it through! Haha! All that shipping! I hadn't even originally planned out for it to be like that. It all just sort of happened! But thanks for the free cookies, lol! Hope you enjoyed Micky's intro and the chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **I haven't read the light novels for K yet, but it's on my list to hunt down. I'll probably have to order them online or something since 13 episodes just wasn't enough for me for that series! But I'm glad that you're enjoying how everything is moving along in the story. I really am glad you sent in Securus since he's got a lot going on and he's fun to write. But if I have ever have questions about him or whatnot, I'll let you know! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012** \- Haha! Yeah, I know some of those lines were pretty cheesy, but they just worked so well! Plus, it was Securus saying it while smoking a cigarette so I figured his badass-ness would give it a few bonus points at least, lol. But I'm glad you enjoyed how their fight scene ended with Daniel! And I'm glad that you're loving Gamu so much, both in character and magic. He really is a great character! Haha! Yeah, Eli…he tries, he really does! He's just…well you know, lol. But at least he's got that wicked Fire Magic to back him up. I had thought about using Bern's Captains first several times, but it just wasn't the same as being able to use Bern! He's just so awesome and I wanted to show off that fighting passion of his! But I'm glad you liked his first fight nonetheless! And that prediction…well I guess we'll just have to see if you'll be right or not, lol! I'm glad you enjoyed that last scene so much! Tying in everyone is one of the biggest things I worry about since I'm always worried if it works and makes sense, so I was really happy to see that you're liking how everyone's personal lives are being tied into the story! And no need to apologize on the long review! It made me happy to read everything! ^.^ Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**mrady - **Glad you're always looking forward to the weekly updates! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Glad the chapter was worth the wait! And that you enjoyed the conclusion to both battle scenes! But yeah, Cordelia has a lot on her plate right now, but I'm sure she'll bounce back real soon…like next chapter, lol. And I'm sure Jack was less than amused by having three people show up in his infirmary, but it could have been much worse! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **^.^ Glad you enjoyed the chapter! Glad I could catch you off guard a bit with John showing up to deflect that bullet! Daniel lives for now, although much more humiliated now. I'm sure he'll really be aiming to kill the next time he meets up with Storm's Helm again. But I'm sure it won't be a pretty battle if he ends up against Securus again. Bern is pretty ridiculous with that strength and magic power of his, but it's all just so awesome! So yeah, it's just another thing for the guild to worry about, especially with the Captains getting involved now too. But I'm glad you enjoyed that last scene too! She does have quite a bit on her shoulders, but she'll eventually overcome it all! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Definitely an action-packed and emotion-filled chapter! But I'm glad you liked it! A few more fights with the navy is putting it lightly, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Well, that should be it for this chapter.

See you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	18. The Western Captains: Desmond and Kira!

**A/N: **CHA! A little earlier than normal, but the weekend might get a bit busy for me, so I wanted to get this up sooner rather than later. But I'm sure none of you will mind the slightly early update! And who knows, maybe I might not be as busy as I think I'm going to be and get another chapter out on Sunday or Monday, but no promises at the moment!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 18: The Western Captains: Desmond and Kira!**

**April 11, X792 - Late Morning**

"A little to the left I believe!" Matilda said happily, barely pushing the helm of the ship in the correct direction with her index finger, "Yes! That feels right! What do you think, Sam?"

"Sure," he answered, flipping through a history book he had grabbed the previous night when he found out the next island they would be heading towards. He had been reading up on Nebula all night and was feeling uncertain about their current course of movement. He suddenly felt a weight on his back, causing him to look back to see Matilda hanging over his shoulders, "Can I help you?"

"What are you reading? I want to know, don't leave me in the dark, tell me about it! You haven't put that book down all night! Tell me about, tell me about it!"

"Stop shaking me!" Sam snapped. Matilda instantly stopped her shaking of the boy, but still wore a wide smile, "I'll tell you about if you actually sit down and listen to me."

Matilda suddenly pulled up a chair with a pen and notepad, grabbing her cup of coffee and taking a large sip of it before setting it down on the floor next to her. She stared up at him with wide, curious eyes, her pen at the ready.

Sam stared at her for a moment, not having expected her to react so quickly like that, "Well then," he finally began, "First off, Nebula is an island filled with fog, so that cuts our visibility down greatly. Apparently, no one actually lives on the island, but many explorers and scientists have gone there to conduct research and whatnot. The lack of civilians is mostly due to the rumors of Angel's Cove being on that island. It's filled with sirens and mermaids and not of the good variety. Many people, mostly men, have gone missing on that island if they venture too far inland. And along with the supposed cove, there's also an abundance of odd creatures hiding in the fog and vegetation. It's not a safe island in the least, so I have my concerns about heading there."

"I see," Matilda thought for a moment, "Have you talked to Cordelia about your concerns and I might actually have a map for Nebula if you think that will help, but I'm still pretty sure that Cordelia will want to go to the island and she'll pick the right people to go inland, so you shouldn't worry so much and-"

"As her advisor, it's my job to worry when she doesn't. There are reasons that even pirates stay away from this specific island and she should know the reasons why," Sam stated in an even tone, effectively cutting Matilda off for a moment.

"Mmm, well as valid as your points are, I have my job to steer the guild towards the island and I will not veer from that path unless Cordelia says otherwise, so you need to speak with her if you really wish to stay away from that island, but we have to go there for the treasure, so good luck in changing her mind," Matilda shrugged.

"Well, I'll get in contact with her now," Sam said, "I can link in with her mentally with my magic, but I want you to get that map of Nebula ready if you have it, all right?"

"Will do!" Matilda answered, "Illusion: Map Make!" Matilda shouted. Across a table in the navigation cabin, a 3D version of a map of Iceberg popped up, the country being the last one Matilda had looked at. She started flipping through all the different maps she had, hoping that she had Nebula in her stock.

While the woman worked, Sam tapped into the data stream that made up his Archive Magic, "Telepathy," he said calmly, working on opening a communication channel that would link him to Cordelia. He just had to hope that Cordelia was in a cooperating mood. He supposed he would have to consider this his first main task as the advisor to Cordelia, so he reminded himself to sound as confident as he could once he made contact with her.

**. : + : .**

"What are you doing now?" Eli asked, watching as Cordelia dug behind one of the bars on the main deck of the middle vessel.

"I know it has to be around here somewhere," Cordelia said, not bothering to answer Eli for the moment, "I always had extra stashed away under here."

"Oi! What are you looking for?" Eli continued.

Cordelia popped her head up to peer at him over the edge of the bar. She suddenly narrowed her eyes at him, "With an attitude like that, I'm not gonna tell you," she said with a huff before turning back to her previous search.

Eli felt his eye twitch in irritation, "Look, I went and carried you all the way to the front ship and then you made me carry you all the way back here and get you breakfast. I think I've earned some kind of answer!"

The only answer he received was a face full of water from Cordelia's squirt gun and a loud cackle from the woman.

"Seriously?!" Eli shouted, wiping water from his face and beginning to move in to pay her back for the cheap shot.

"Found it!" Cordelia said, popping up from her spot behind the bar. As soon as she moved upwards though, the top of her head smacked into Eli's jaw since the man had been reaching over the bar to grab her, "Ow, ow, ow, ow!" she said, grabbing the top of her head while small tears appeared at the corners of her eyes, "You idiot! What did you do that for?!" she shouted, glaring at Eli.

"I wasn't the one that popped up like a Jack-in-the-Box, now was I?!" Eli snapped, rubbing his jaw.

Cordelia just huffed in response at him, "As I was saying," she began, "I found it!" she repeated, throwing out the hand that held a bucket of colorful sidewalk chalk.

Eli stared down at the chalk, "Seriously? This is what you were looking for?"

"What's the problem?"

"It's just that…you're not a kid anymore," he said, "Why do you still have that?"

"I'll do what I want when I want!" she yelled, pulling the bucket away from him when he tried to pick up a piece from it, "You don't have to be a kid to play with this stuff! I didn't think you were such a stick in the mud!"

"Fine, then what exactly do you plan to do with all that chalk?"

"Ohhhh! Chalk!" Zinnia said, suddenly appearing next to Cordelia and peering down into the bucket, "Can we play hopscotch?! It's been so long!"

Cordelia smirked triumphantly over at Eli, who only rolled his eyes in response.

"Yeah, go grab a stone or something and I'll set it up," Cordelia said. Zinnia moved to find something small to throw while Cordelia pulled out a white piece of the chalk. She moved a bunch of the tables and chairs out of the way and began to draw the needed squares. She stopped for a moment when she reached ten of them and looked up at Eli, "Ten or twenty of them?" she asked, motioning down to the board in front of her.

"You better make it twenty or someone might complain about it being too easy."

"Right, right," she said as she began adding in the extra ten squares and numbering them all off.

"What's going on?" Seth asked, having been curious as to what the small group had been doing.

"Hopscotch apparently," Eli answered just as Zinnia reappeared with a small metal piece in her hand.

"I got Gordon to make me the square marker," she smiled, causing both Seth and Eli to wonder how she had managed that.

Both men eventually just shrugged it off to being one of those unexplainable things that Zinnia did. Eli looked back up to Seth and as he was about to say something, he jumped away from him and pointed up at the top of his head.

"How the hell does he keep doing that?!" Eli shouted, having been pointing at Gamu who was perched on top of Seth.

"Haha, I don't really know," Seth laughed, "He's getting really good at doing that though."

"You should really be more bothered by it!"

"Just let him have some fun."

"Let's have some fun," Gamu smiled down at Eli.

"You're still not a parrot!"

"All right! Let's play!" Cordelia announced, swiping the metal piece from Zinnia, "And as master of this guild, I get to go first!"

"Like that's a surprise," Eli mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Cordelia snapped.

"You always have a reason for going first!"

"Some talk coming from a man that thought playing with chalk was for kids!"

"They're still having arguments like this after all this time," Zinnia laughed from next to Seth.

In the mix of the argument, the group failed to notice Bones trotting passed the group with a half eaten bone in his mouth. The hound stopped in mid-trot to stare over at the hopscotch board, his interest becoming peaked. He walked up to the beginning of the board before suddenly spitting out his bone across it. It skidded to a stop on the twelfth square and Bones began to hop across the board on his hind legs.

"Is that how it's done?" Gamu asked, cocking his head to the side as he watched Bones move along the board, causing both Seth and Zinnia to moved their heads to the side too.

Cordelia and Eli stopped their argument to look over at the board, "How is he even able to do that?!" they both shouted.

Bones quickly finished up his turn, bypassing the square with his bone in it until he came back around and picked it up. He jumped to the end of the board in flawless movements, striking a victory pose when he was finished before trotting off again. The group simply watched after him in silence, unsure of what to think of what had just happened.

Cordelia quickly shook off her confusion as she swiped the metal piece from Eli's hand since he had taken it from her during their argument, "Like I was saying, I get to go first!"

As the group began their games, the crowd around them started to grow until there were multiple groups playing multiple games or creating pictures on the deck with the chalk. Cordelia had switch games a few times to get a chance at playing with everyone in the mix. She eventually came to a foursquare game against Rio, Lance and Tazz, having taken Chris's place in the game. The four were having a rather intense game as all of them wore concentrated looks and smacked the ball around at high speeds. It was when Tazz knocked the ball over into Cordelia's square that Sam made the mental connection with her.

'_Cordelia.'_

"GAH!" Cordelia shouted as she stumbled forward from her concentration being broken. She completely missed hitting the ball after it bounced in her square, the rubber ball smacking her right in the face instead.

"In the face!" Rio shouted, laughing along with Lance, Tazz and Chris.

The ball peeled away, leaving behind a giant red imprint. Cordelia's hands instantly shot up to her face as she rolled painfully on the ground, "It hurts so much! I'm gonna die!"

'_Cordelia!'_

"Sam?" Cordelia questioned, coming to a stop on the deck. She laid flat on her back, looking up at the sky.

'_I'm speaking with you through my Telepathy spell. It allows me to open up a communication line.'_

"Well that comes in handy. So no one else can hear you right now?"

There was a moment of silence that ended with Sam sighing before he spoke again.

'_Matilda says hello,' Sam mumbled, 'But no, no one can hear me right now. I figured this was an easier way for me to speak with you at the moment instead of hunting you down.'_

"I suppose so," Cordelia said, "I am on the move quite often. So what can I do for you?"

'_I'm banking in on my role as your advisor to tell you that we shouldn't go to Nebula.'_

"You do understand that's where we have to go for the next clue, right?"

'_I do, but do you understand the dangers that come with that island? Not only is it full of fog, but there are unknown creatures that fill that island. And then there's the rumor of Angel's Cove. If that cove is on that island somewhere, then that means we also have to deal with sirens and mermaids. They aren't what the fairy tales perceive them to be, I hope you know.'_

"I know that, but our clue also stated that we'd have to deal with creatures like that anyways. Ya know, the dangerous beauties and ears and weak-willed men being the death of us and all that jazz."

'_Then you should understand my concerns, especially with the men on the guild. You really think they stand a chance?'_

Cordelia suddenly smiled, "Are you afraid of some little siren getting the better of you, Sammy?" she asked, laughing when she heard him sputter in her head.

'_Of course not! And what's with this Sammy?'_

"Don't know, just thought it was cute and it suited you," Cordelia shrugged, "Now then! I will not change our current path or motive! I fully understand what we are getting into and I'm not giving up! We've already been through so much with the first clue and there's no way I'm letting the Black Skulls win this!"

'_But Cordelia-'_

"Sam, while I appreciate your concern and information on the island, I have a promise to keep now," she said, thinking about the cigarette that was currently in her office desk, "We will move forward with this treasure hunt. That's a command from your master."

'_While I still think this is a bad idea, I also trust your judgment.'_

"Good," Cordelia smiled again, "And good job with your current position as advisor. I know that was probably hard for you to do, giving your opinion despite the decision I made."

'_Th…thank you,' Sam said quietly, 'Well then, I have one other thing for you while we still have the connection up. It seems that Matilda has found a map of Nebula in her collection. I will have her download it to you now so you can decide how to approach the island. I'll patch Matilda into the connection.'_

"Wait! Sam!"

'_Cordelia!'_

Cordelia clamped her hands to her ears, not that it helped much since Matilda was speaking directly into her head.

'_How are you?! I mean, I know I just saw you a little bit ago, but then Eli took you back to the middle ship, I wanted to give you some coffee before you left, so I hope you got some with breakfast, and-'_

"Matilda! Could you please download the map?!" Cordelia shouted, cutting the woman off before she rambled any longer.

'_Ah, right! Sorry!' she laughed nervously, 'Archive Download!'_

The magically compressed information suddenly appeared in Cordelia's mind. It was like she was standing with Matilda and Sam looking down at the 3D map of Nebula.

'_So as you can see,' Sam began, 'It appears that there's only one port on the island. It's located in the area that sets closest to Fiore. Luckily, we are fairly close to that area now, so it should only be another ten minutes or so before we reach the port. Do you want to dock there?'_

"I don't think we'll fully dock there," Cordelia answered, "I will be sending a team in from that port to start searching the island. I'll be giving them some flares to shoot off if they find anything though. In the meantime, I would like to keep the guild moving around the island in case we find anything that way."

'_Understood,' Sam answered, 'Two teams like that should be rather helpful in finding the clue much quicker. The group we send out onto the island will have to be extremely careful though. There will be dangerous animals on the island and that fog will make visibility hard. I suggest whoever you send onto the island receive this map from Matilda the way you did, that way they can have it with them at all times. There is a jungle-like area on this island from what you can see on the map.'_

"I'll make sure to do that," Cordelia answered, "I'll let you know the team soon, Matilda, that way you can download the map to them."

'_Yes ma'am!'_

"Now Sam, if you could please disconnect me from the line. I have a crowd of people giving me odd looks," Cordelia said, looking up at the people around her from her spot on the deck still.

'_Of course. Thank you for your time.'_

"Still so formal," Cordelia muttered after the line was disconnected. She then turned her attention back to the people around her, "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Gamu was the first to move next to her, perching near her head, "Why is your face all red?" he asked as he bopped her on the nose with one finger.

Little tears appeared at the corners of her eyes again as she resumed her rolling on the deck, "It still hurts so much!"

"She was sucker punched in the face with a foursquare ball!" Rio explained, "It was completely awesome!"

"Well maybe if you all didn't play like it was life or death then no one would get hurt," Eli grumbled as he moved to pick up Cordelia by the back of her coat. He set her on her feet and moved to grab her hands, "Let me see your face to make sure you didn't break your nose," he said as he pulled her hands away. Cordelia sniffed a little as she looked up at him with wide eyes. Eli twitched at the sudden cuteness before him, a blush rising to his cheeks as he covered her face back up with her hands, "Yeah, you're fine," he said, patting the top of her head. As soon as he released her, she was back to rolling on the ground again.

"Who were you just talking to?" Seth asked after having laughed at the scene.

"Oh, that was Sam and Matilda," Cordelia answered, stopping her rolling again to look at the large man, "We should be coming up to Nebula soon. Which means I need to pick out a team to go onto the island!" she announced, popping up off the ground like nothing had happened to her, although she still had the red mark on her face, "I need a team that's strong and brave and won't run away easily!" she said, causing Rio and the others to suddenly jump in front of her in a line and puff their chests out to show themselves off, Tazz included. Cordelia looked over them with a flat stare, "And a team not fully made of complete punks."

"You're one to talk!" Rio shouted.

"Just tell us what we need to find and we'll find it," Lance said with a charming smile, stepping in before an argument could break out between the two.

As Lance said this, the group began to notice it becoming darker around them. They looked around them to see a thick fog setting in, indicating that they were close to the island.

"I suppose Nebula is properly named," Zinnia mentioned, sticking her hand out to swirl it through the fog.

"This is like super creepy," Tazz mentioned, "I feel like some slasher psycho is gonna pop out any second."

"What kind of thing is that to say?!" Rio and Chris shouted.

A sudden loud roar had the two boys shouting in fear as they grabbed onto each other tightly.

Cordelia eyed them for a moment, "And you want me to send you onto the island," she mumbled, "But seriously, what was that?"

"Sounded like an animal," Seth answered.

"Are we that close to the island?" Cordelia asked, trying to peer through the fog to see if she could spot any land.

"Pretty sure that sound came out from the ocean, not land," Seth said.

"A water beast now?" Cordelia whined as the roaring sounded off again, this time much closer to the guild. Things went quiet for a moment before screams and shouts could be heard coming from the back ships that created the dorms, "Dammit!" Cordelia shouted before the group ran off towards the dorms.

**. : + : .**

Upon reaching the back ships, Cordelia and the others saw a large, three-headed hydra attacking the guild and its members. The long necks moved quickly while the sharp teeth continuously snapped at people. Jean, Drayden and Kato were currently battling each of the three heads, but it was clear they were having some trouble.

"It doesn't look quite normal," Zinnia said, causing the rest of the group to look more closely at the creature.

"That thing is made of metal and mechanical scraps!" Chris shouted.

"Jean's got an advantage since he's using his heated rapier," Zinnia mentioned, "It should burn through the metal easily. And Drayden's lightning should help him out too, but I'm afraid of what will happen if Kato cuts one of those heads off. You know what happens to real hydras."

"Shit," Cordelia cursed before she ran over towards the three men and the monster, "Kato! Stop slashing at the thing!"

"What do you expect me to do?!" he shouted, "We can't just let this thing attack us!"

"I know that, but if you slice a head off then-"

It was too late though. Just as Cordelia was explaining things to the redhead, his sword managed to cut off the head he was fighting against. The other two heads roared as the sliced one fell onto the deck. There was no movement for a moment, but it didn't take long for the fallen head to start moving again. The scrap metal floated up into the air and reattached itself to the main body as two heads instead of one, giving the monster a total of four heads now.

"I told you not to slice it!" Cordelia shouted.

"Whoops," Kato said just as a figure on the back of the monster jumped up and landed on the deck. The heads gathered around her as she stared down the guild members before her.

"The name's Micky," she began, "A member of the Black Skulls."

"So it looks like you're not even bothering to hide it anymore," Cordelia said, narrowing her stare at the woman.

"Madmartigan decided it was pointless to hide that we were after Blackstroker's map after the spectacle that Daniel made."

"Yeah, it would be a bit pointless," Cordelia agreed, "But I also hope you know that we're not just gonna hand over the map to you."

"I figured as much," she grunted, "So I'll be taking it by force."

"We'd like to see you try," Rio said as he, Lance and Chris ran out to stand directly in front of the woman. Tazz had run off to grab something off another ship while the boys kept the woman busy.

Micky scanned over the three boys in front of her, something seeming familiar about them. Her stare suddenly turned into a glare once she realized where she knew them from, "You're the bastards that destroyed half my collection!"

Rio, Lance and Chris went quiet at her accusation, the three looking at each other as they tried to figure out what she was talking about.

"Jesus! You don't even remember, do you?" Micky snapped, "You remember that fire you started back in port that burned down the bar? Well that fire of yours burnt away half my scraps! You're gonna pay for that now!"

"You stupid little punk!" Cordelia shouted, suddenly yanking Rio into a tight head lock, "You burnt down a bar?!"

"How do you know it was me?!"

"You're the one that has those stupid hackies and I know you have fire ones in your stash!"

"Well so what if we started that fire?! It got us the map, didn't it?!"

"It got us this pirate in front of us! You're not in some punk gang anymore, remember?! Don't do stupid things!"

"You do stupid things all the time!"

"Is now really the time for you two to be arguing like this?" Chris sighed.

"Butt out!" both Cordelia and Rio shouted.

"I suggest backing away slowly," Lance laughed lightly as he pulled Chris back with him.

Micky's eye twitched in irritation before she controlled one of the heads to attack the arguing pair. Though, before it could reach either of them, Kato sliced through it.

"Stop chopping the heads off!" Cordelia shouted as the fallen head returned to the body as two new heads.

"Just give me the map and you won't have to deal with it anymore," Micky said, glaring over at the three boys, "And you let me beat them up a bit too."

"Tch, yeah right," Cordelia answered.

"OI! Scrap chick!" Tazz shouted from atop the middle vessel, sitting on her bike and revving the engine a bit, "You want a fight, then you got one!" she continued before revving the bike up enough to have it rearing back on one tire. Once the front tire hit the deck, she took off down towards the dorm ships. As she passed Micky, she flicked the woman on the nose before she continued to the end of the last ship and speeding off of it.

"Tazz! You don't even know if there's land nearby!"

The girl disappeared into the fog and after a moment or two, she called out to them, "Made it!"

Sighs of relief came from everyone in the group. Cordelia thanked whoever was watching over them that they had made it close enough to the island for Tazz to land on it. The guild members turned back to the Black Skull pirate to see rage filling her. Before anyone could think of what to do next, Micky controlled the scraps in her wagon to follow her and she quickly followed Tazz through the fog with it all.

"This definitely wasn't how things were supposed to go," Cordelia said, whipping around to look at Rio, Lance and Chris, "Oi! You three need to go after them! I don't want Tazz facing that woman alone or being on that island alone!"

The three of them nodded in agreement.

"If you get the chance while you're on the island, we're looking for a frozen beauty within dangerous beauties. So if you come across something like that, send up a signal of some sort. We'll be searching as well from the guild and if we find it, we'll send up our own signal," Cordelia explained, "But you could come across sirens and mermaids, so don't fall into any stupid traps of theirs, got it?!"

"Got it!"

"Good! Now get going! I'll have Matilda download the map of Nebula to you all here shortly."

The three boys nodded at her again before running off and jumping through the fog to reach the island. Cordelia listened to make sure they didn't fall into the water, but she didn't have much time to make sure they made it when she felt Seth tapping on her shoulder.

"We still have to take care of this thing," he said, pointing to the five-headed hydra.

They watched as the head that hadn't been cut off made an attack at Drayden. As he was about to use his lightning on it, Kato appeared above it and sliced the head off, allowing the beast to create six heads now.

"STOP CHOPPING THE DAMN HEADS OFF!" Cordelia shouted.

"Can you just let me burn it away already?" Eli asked.

Before Cordelia could give him the go ahead, two figures suddenly crashed down in between the hydra and the guild.

One was a man that appeared to be about thirty who stood at 6'2" with a medium, dark skin tone and a lean build with broad shoulders. His pitch black hair was clean cut with his bangs swooped to the right, keeping his slanted, gold eyes unobstructed. He also had a single beauty mark on his left cheekbone. He wore a pristine Naval Captain's uniform, everything being in its place and perfectly fitted to his build. On one hip hung a rapier with a silver blade and a gold hilt.

The other figure was a young woman of twenty with a fit build. Her piercing green eyes could be seen through her bangs, the rest of her brown hair being pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a black jumpsuit with a white Captain's coat around her shoulders, a small habit that she had picked up from her superior. In her hands were two steel escrima sticks that were each about two feet long. Finally, there was cigarette in her mouth, though it was currently unlit at the moment.

"Who the hell are you?!" Cordelia shouted.

"Desmond Lihir," the man answered with a slight bow.

"Kira Dawson," the woman answered with a playful and cocky tone, standing in a more laidback stance than her comrade.

"Captains of Earthland's Western Naval Forces," they both said.

"Fuck my life!" Cordelia cried.

"We have come here on orders of our Vice Admiral," Desmond said.

"Seems he's taking a fancy to you," Kira smirked.

"We're kinda in the middle of something right now," Eli said, motioning back towards the hydra.

"Well then, it seems you will have your hands quite full with us too," Desmond stated.

"We have orders to take the lot of you on," Kira added.

Cordelia felt her eye twitch multiple times. She could clearly see the Vice Admiral smirking at her in her mind and it agitated her to no end. Not only did she have to deal with a damn six-headed hydra, she now had to deal with Captains of the Naval Forces. She looked up in time to watch everything in what seemed like slow motion. The hydra heads coming at them along with both Captains. She finally released the roar of a shout she had been holding in as she and her guild had to prepare for battle.

"BEEEERRRRNNNNNN!"

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Desmond Lihir - XLil MEkoX**

**Kira Dawson - Dragon-Penguin120**

Well that was super fun for me to write! Especially now that Cordelia wasn't being all sad! It makes me sad to write her like that, so back to normal Cordelia in this chapter!

And we finally got to meet our two Captains. Seems Bern instilled some of his fighting spirit in them to attack them while also having to deal with that hydra. So we'll get to find out next chapter on exactly how they all deal with that along with Tazz and the boys taking on Micky!

Oh! I totally forgot to mention this last chapter! But if you have ideas for a general theme song and a battle theme song for your characters, then please PM them to me. I'm setting up a small character section on my profile page for them and those are two of the categories I will be putting in. But please only send me one song for each! If after a certain period of time you do not send me one, I will start choosing them myself! But I have all my own characters to get through, so it'll probably be a long while before I start to do that. (AKA it's been so long since this announcement that it's gotten a bit obvious to me that you won't be sending any songs over, lol!)

Now then! Onto those awesome reviews!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep, got a scrap mage and Bern's still after the guild! And I hope you like the start of this island along with the Captains! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Haha, it's good that you got a bad feeling about Madmartigan and Duke! But that'll be a bit later down the line. Well, Bern just loves to fight and he's found some decent opponents in Storm's Helm, so after them he goes! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Yep, the Captains were revealed a bit in that last chapter, but fully revealed in this one! And yeah, those Eastern Captains will be fun, but it'll be a while before we reach them. Glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one too!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **I think whoa is a good word to describe Bern too, lol! But yeah, he's definitely a beast being able to stand up against Cordelia and the others like that. And yeah, Cordelia is a bit stressed with those promises, but she'll make it! But I'm glad you like Micky! And yeah, I'm sure that cove will be quite a bit for the guild to handle, but we'll see. And I'm glad you enjoyed that bit of Cordelia and Eli! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Yep, Madmartigan definitely doesn't go easy on anyone, but like you said, it's pretty natural for him. And yeah, the third person out of the seven crew members, so I'm glad you liked her character! And I'm glad you're still enjoying how things are tying in together with the characters. Sometimes I don't even know I'm doing things like that with those small comments, lol, but I'm glad you pick up on things like that. And yep, I totally mentioned Duke again! MUWHAHAHAHAHAHA! SOON! Ahem…anyways…well there are only a select few that know about Securus's voice. I suppose a fun fact would be that Cordelia is actually the only person that Securus has told willingly about that voice. Everyone else found out through…uh…unfortunate events? More to be explained on that later. But yeah, only Nanami, Seth, Devin and maybe one or two other people, know about that voice. But like I said, more to be explained later. All sorts of promises going around! More on those later too! Well, I've got some plans going on in the next arc of the story that will involve both the Western and Southern Forces, so you can look forward to that! But other things are in the working for all them! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **Red Fire is part of the Rainbow Fire Magic. I just went through and expanded on the colors in that magic. So Red Fire is extremely hot…hotter than normal fire. Hope that helped! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Daniel definitely screwed up! Madmartigan was not happy in the least! And yeah, I believe Micky could make just about anything she wanted really. Yeah, Eli has his moments, lol, but he's known Cordelia for a long time, so he knows how to approach her in those kinds of situations. And I'm glad you're still liking Bern since he'll keep showing up for a bit. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Yeah, Micky is not happy at all. And she's going out for payback against Tazz and the boys, so they better watch out! Yeah, Cordelia has some stress weighing down on her, but that's to be expected, but luckily she's got people around her to help her out like Eli. Haha, no, I don't believe Bern has tried out model ship. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Yep, a new Black Skull member has been introduced! And I'm glad you like her! But yeah, Madmartigan was not happy at all with Daniel. And I gotta keep you all guessing for a bit with what happened between Madmartigan and Duke! I haven't even told Dreadburner94 about that and he's my Beta, lol! So I'm hoping it'll be a surprise to all of you…even if it won't be a happy surprise. Haha! Well I'm glad Eli was able to get a brownie point from you! But we got to see Cordelia back to her normal self in this chapter, so hopefully she'll keep looking up for a while! And we finally got to meet the Captains! More action from them to come next chapter! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Yeah, Daniel made it back to the ship only to be yelled at by Madmartigan. But we finally got to meet our next Black Skull crew member! And I'm glad you like her magic. It is pretty interesting. But yeah, she's ready to lay down some payback for half of her supplies being destroyed. And enter the Captains of the West! But I'm really glad you liked that Cordelia and Eli moment! And yeah, let's hope he doesn't find out about Securus making her cry, even if it was an accident. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you enjoyed that Eli moment with Cordelia! And the moment between Nanami and Securus! I'm glad to hear I have another shipper for them, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **LOL! You were having a bit of a hard time there, weren't you? And yet, you found enough letters to create a 999 message -.- Anyways, Madmartigan probably could have used some more salt to rub in that wound, so I suppose he did get off a bit easy. And I think the ship between Nanami and Securus will be a slow build, so we'll see how things go over time. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Haha, but will she really complete all those promises? Guess will have to wait and see! And we finally got to meet the Western Captains this chapter and we'll get to see them in action next chapter! And yep, Micky is definitely out for revenge! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **Yeah, it seems that things will eventually lead up to a small war between Storm's Helm and the Black Skulls. So much more fighting to come! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Hopefully the chapter turned out interesting for you! Since the Captains finally made their appearance and Micky being out for revenge! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

I believe that's it for this time around!

If I don't do another update after this early update, then I'll see you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	19. Four vs One! Battle in the Fog!

**A/N: **YAS! The next chapter is up!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 19: Four vs. One! Battle in the Fog!**

**April 11, X792 - Late Morning**

"That girl better not be doing anything stupid," Rio grumbled as he moved through the fog on the island.

"You're really one to be saying something," Chris said, chuckling as he pulled Lance along behind him by one leg.

"Do you really want to start a fight now?" Rio asked, glaring back at the older man.

"I'm not trying to start anything, just stating a fact, really," Chris answered, "But we should be more focused on finding Tazz right now. As smart as she is, she's still a girl and a small one at that."

"It's funny to hear you calling someone small. You're only an inch taller than she is," Rio smirked. Though, his amusement didn't last for long as Chris chucked Lance at the water mage. Rio was thrown down to the ground with Lance laying on top of him, "What the hell?!"

"Don't shout. It only gives our position away," Chris said as he walked by the pair on the ground, "Now hurry up and get up. Unless you want to lose me in this fog."

Rio only grumbled in reply as he pushed Lance off of him, "Shake it off, you idiot!" Rio snapped, looking down at Lance, "We've been on land long enough for you to be able to handle it!"

Before anything else could be done, loud stomping could be heard through the fog. The ground began to shake as the stomps came closer towards the trio until a large knight with a lance appeared, looking to be made of the same material as the hydra. On the end of the lance hung the girl the three men were looking for.

"Tazz!" Chris and Rio shouted.

Tazz looked down to see the men and promptly began to shout at them, "Get me the hell off of this thing! It totally ripped a hole through the back of my shirt!"

"How'd you even get up there?" Chris asked.

"Does it matter?! Just get me down!"

"Well, you heard her," Rio began before Chris could ask what the plan was. The water mage positioned Lance where he wanted him before he kicked the brunette up towards the knight, his body smacking into its helmet, "Get her down!"

As soon as Lance's body smacked into the knight, the metal figure stopped and looked down at Rio and Chris.

"Way to go, you idiot!" Chris yelled, kicking the water mage next to him, "Now it's going to come after us before we even have a plan!"

"Tch, just wait another second and you'll see what I did," Rio answered.

"What the hell is your problem?! Throwing someone like that!" Lance shouted, suddenly jumping up to stand on the knight's shoulder.

Chris and Tazz could only sweat drop in response while Rio smirked.

"You can yell at them later! Get me down first!" Tazz shouted up at him.

Lance looked down to see what he was standing on and to see Tazz hanging by her shirt from a large lance, "Where the hell did you throw me?!" he yelled, glaring down at Chris. The knight attempted to reach up and yank Lance off of him, but the brunette was able to stop him, "Don't interrupt me when I'm talking! Laser Make: Beam!" he shouted, sending out a beam of red magic at the knight's hand. It quickly shot through the hand grabbing for him, leaving behind a wide, sizzling hole. This gave Lance enough time to turn his attention down at Tazz, creating another laser beam to cut the weapon she hung from in half. She landed rather ungracefully on the ground with half of the lance still stuck through her shirt.

"One of you could have at least caught me! Dammit! Get this thing off of me!" she yelled, scrambling around as she tried to pull the broken lance off of her.

"Just hold still for a moment," Chris said as he walked up to her. He quickly yanked the metal off of her and threw it off to the side, "You all right?"

"I'm fine," she huffed.

"Where's your bike at?"

Tazz twitched in annoyance at Chris's question, "That good for nothing pirate took it from me! She said she was gonna use it as scrap metal! I'll kill her if she does anything to Betty!"

The revving of an engine interrupted the group as Micky suddenly flew through the fog on the motorbike, the scrap mage coming to a sliding stop and kicking up dirt in the process, "I told you that you would pay for all the scrap metal you destroyed. Your bike here is just the beginning. Though, I might keep her in the shape she's in now. She's a rather convenient piece of metal."

"You get off her right now!" Tazz shouted, attempting to make a run for the scrap mage. She was instantly knocked backwards by the half of the lance that was still in the knight's hand. She flew out of sight through the fog, causing the three men to look back worriedly.

"Tazz!" Chris shouted.

They heard coughing first before Tazz called out to them, "I'm fine! Just focus on defeating that pirate!"

While Chris hesitated for a moment on whether he should go off to find her in the fog or not, Rio didn't waste any time turning back to face Micky and her knight.

"You're gonna regret coming onto the guild," he said as he pulled out the gray trident he normally carried into battle with him, "The fog and humidity in this place is a perfect battlefield for me, so you've basically already lost."

"You're getting ahead of yourself when you haven't even won yet," Micky said as she called the broken lance back to reattach itself as well as mending the hand that Lance had blown a hole through. She then controlled the large knight to charge towards Rio with its lance at the ready.

Rio simply smirked in response, "Boil Sphere!" he shouted, throwing out his right hand. He shot off several spheres of boiling water, the liquid being hot enough to melt away the metal when it made contact.

"At least wait for me to get off this damn thing!" Lance snapped before jumping up into the air. He flipped through the air in order to face the knight, sending a laser beam across its neck and chopping its head off.

Though, the knight continued charging without its head, causing Chris to channel his magic to his bracelet, the yellow gem glowing brightly through the fog, "Shockwave Claw Strike!" he shouted once the knight was in close range. He punched his arm forward to release a rather powerful wave of lightning. The lightning easily traveled up and across the knight due to it being made of metal. It shook violently before falling to the ground in a large scrap heap, the knight no longer having any shape.

The three boys celebrated over bringing the knight down, but Micky didn't show any sort of indication of having actually lost the battle. Instead she simply smirked at them, "Just because the knight is gone doesn't mean you've won yet. There's still scrap there for me to use," she explained, "Scrap Build: Goblin!" she shouted. The metal on the ground began to move until it created three, bulky looking goblins, each holding jagged swords that were also made from the scraps of metal, "Have fun dealing with all of them."

"Dammit!" Rio cursed, "Where is Tazz?! She should be helping us right now!"

"The fog is probably making it hard for her to find us," Chris answered, "Just focus on fighting off the goblins for now. She'll make an appearance soon."

"I hope she will," Lance said, "Because even if we knock these guys out, the pirate is only gonna make more things for us to battle. We need someone to take her out in order for her to stop building things."

"I'm sure Tazz already figured that out," Chris said, "She might be scanning over Micky right now, so just give her some time."

"Whatever, just as long as she makes it quick," Rio said before running towards one of the goblins with his trident, ramming the weapon through the middle of it. It attempted to make a swipe at him with its sword, but Rio quickly bent backwards to dodge it. He lifted the trident up and swung it off to the side, throwing the goblin off of it and across from him. Chris and Lance exchanged glances before jumping into their own fights with the other two goblins.

While the boys continued to fight off the scrap goblins, Tazz had silently made her way through the fog until she had come to stand a few feet behind Micky, having let the words the woman spoke guide her to her location. She lifted up her right pants leg to pull out the small dagger she kept strapped to her calf. She waited until the right moment to make her attack, though her anger instantly ignited again as Micky turned away from the current fights going on to bend down and look over the bike. She tinkered with a few things and the moment it looked like she was about to rip a piece of it off, Tazz made her move. She ran towards the woman at top speed before jumping up to come down on her from above. She held the dagger at the ready as she silently made her way down towards Micky. Though, the pirate had felt a presence coming towards her and looked up just in time to see Tazz coming at her.

"Shit," Micky mumbled, looking back towards her goblins. She would have to sacrifice one to protect herself. She could only hope that her scraps would move fast enough to actually do that, "Scrap Build: Shield!" she shouted. The goblin Chris was currently fighting suddenly fell away from him, the scraps flying over towards Micky. The three boys turned to watch what was happening, seeing Tazz falling down towards the pirate as the scraps traveled towards the pair. It was a race to see who would make it first, Tazz's dagger or the metal scraps. There was a sinking sound as the dagger came down, the two women falling to the ground together once Tazz made contact. Silence filled the area as Micky's focus was pulled away from the two standing goblins, blood trickling out from the pair and sinking into the ground. The boys couldn't tell who it was from for a moment until they saw the crimson color slide down Tazz's stomach.

"Tazz!"

**. : + : .**

"Twin Pistols!" Cordelia shouted, bringing forth her go-to guns. She aimed one at each of the Captains, pulling the triggers with ease.

"Lightning Body!" Kira yelled, her entire body transforming into lightning to move out of the bullet's way at a high speed.

"Lightning Step!" Desmond said along with his female counterpart, moving in the opposite direction at his own high speed thanks to the lightning magic moving to his feet.

The two Captains moved in a blink of an eye, reappearing right in front of Cordelia. Her eyes went wide as Desmond slammed his rapier on one of her shoulders while Kira slammed down an escrima stick on the other. While the steel stick had a bruise instantly appearing on her shoulder, the sword bit into her skin and had it bleeding instantly.

"I suppose we should have introduced ourselves better," the Captains said together, "We are known as the Chained Lightning Captains. Where one goes, the other is sure to follow! Lighting Burst!" they shouted, sending lightning through their weapons.

Lightning exploded across Cordelia, the guild master gritting her teeth for as long as she could. It eventually became too much, Cordelia letting out a painful shout as she was brought to her knees. The lightning traveled high up into the air for a moment before the Captains drew back their weapons. Cordelia continued to sit there on her knees with her head hanging down, her hair hiding her face for the moment. Smoke rose up off of her from the bursts of lightning, blood still running down the shoulder that the sword at hit.

"Someone grab her before the hydra does!" Jean shouted, watching as the heads bypassed him and Drayden to attack the easier target.

"Shield Make: Knighthood!" Zinnia shouted as she jumped down in front of Cordelia. A rather large, silver knight's shield with a red lion motif across it appeared in front of her just in time for one of the hydra heads to smack into and bounce off of it with a loud clang, "Someone draw the heads away from here!" she demanded as head after head slammed on her shield.

"Chimera Shift: Wyvern!" Seth shouted, the wyvern tail tattoo on his back beginning to glow. This shift gave him the large wings and tail of a wyvern, the scales being green in color. While allowing him elevation, this change greatly enhanced his strength as well. He flapped the wings once as hard as he could, the burst of energy sending him towards the hydra heads. He grabbed onto two of them and pulled them backwards towards the end of the deck where the three men had originally been fighting them. As he pulled on the two heads, it caused the other four to turn their attention on him and swing back around.

"Don't pull the heads off!" Jean shouted up at him as Seth flew up into the air. The heads in his arms attempted to snap at him, but they couldn't move an inch from the tight hold he had on them, "If you completely pull them off, they could double up like they did when Kato cut them in half."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Seth asked, "We can't let them continue to snap around like this!"

"I know that! Just give me a moment to think!" Jean said. He looked around, trying to think of the best plan of action. He looked over at Drayden to see him punch a head away from him, his Asteris Magic sending blue lightning across the head when he hit it. The head seemed a bit stunned for a moment, not being able to move for a long moment from the electric shock, "That's it! Drayden! Do you have a move large enough to electrocute the entire body of this thing?!"

"I've got one that should work," Drayden answered, "But I'll have to get in close to it."

Jean nodded at him at he looked up at Seth, "You think you can keep that thing distracted long enough for Drayden to land a hit on it?!"

"I should be able to!" Seth answered. He released the two heads he had, punching them both away with ease when they tried to attack him. Another head attempted to lunge upwards to snap at him, but Seth quickly slammed its mouth shut by landing heavily on top of it. Another head tried to snake its way over towards him, but it didn't get too far as Seth snapped his tail across its face. The heads continued to attack Seth, all of them seeming dead set on taking him out before going after any other person on board the deck.

While Seth continued to distract the heads, Jean looked over at Drayden with a nod. Drayden nodded back, "Astral Body!" he said, his body turning into his blue-white lightning. This enhanced his speed enough to have him disappearing and reappearing on the back of the hydra in the blink of an eye. The hydra heads all suddenly stopped to look down at the man on top of it, all of them snarling at the same time as they realized they had been tricked. They began moving downwards to attack Drayden, but he was one step ahead of them, "Asteris Arcana: Supernova!" he shouted as he built up blue plasma through his right hand and arm, the substance reaching halfway down his body before he slammed his hand down onto the hydra. The spell was released in a huge burst of blue lightning, the attack expanding outwards across the entirety of the beast. The six heads stopped right before they snapped down on Drayden, shaking violently as the lightning traveled through it. Soon enough, the scraps of metal that made up the hydra fell apart and sunk down into the ocean, Drayden jumping off the back of the hydra and onto the deck before he sunk down with them.

"Good work," Jean said, looking at both Drayden and Seth once the larger man landed back on the deck. The trio then looked back over towards Cordelia and the Captains.

Cordelia had fallen forward enough to lean up against Zinnia's back, putting all her effort into not falling down onto the deck more than she already had.

"I'm not really sure why Bern was so excited about you bunch," Kira said, "You don't seem all that strong to me. One hit and you're already down."

"I also thought you would be much more interesting," Desmond added, "Seems we have wasted our time."

"What little pricks the both of you are," Cordelia said, still leaning up against Zinnia, "Chained Lightning Captains? Tch, give me a fucking break," she continued, finally pushing herself up, using Zinnia's shoulder to help her up, "You think some lame ass title means anything to me? Especially after you come onto my guild and make threats to me and my mages?! At least your Vice Admiral took us seriously and gave his all when fighting us! What right do you have coming onto my guild and underestimating us?!" she shouted. She finally looked up at the two of them, sending them each a fierce glare, "People like you really piss me off! Get the hell off my ship!"

Desmond and Kira stood taken aback for a moment, not having expected Cordelia to be able to stand up let alone bark off demands at them.

Kira eventually smirked as she looked over Desmond, "Maybe they have more power behind them than we thought. She did take our double attack and she's still standing."

"Possibly, but I still don't think it means much," Desmond huffed, "She still looks fairly weak. What can she possibly do now looking all burnt like that?"

Cordelia felt her anger building up at his words, "You're gonna regret it if you keep insulting me like that! Get the hell off my guild while you still can!"

"Little girls shouldn't hand out orders that they cannot back up," Desmond replied sharply.

Cordelia felt her entire body twitch in anger, but before she could retaliate against the man, two figures landed in between Cordelia and the Captains.

"I think that is quite enough," Ingrid said with a smirk, "There is only so much teasing I will allow you to do to my lovely guild master. Getting her all riled up like that is solely my job, so it is rather aggravating listening to _little boys _trying to get the better of her."

"And I do have to say you are rather terrible at trying to make Miss Murdock angry," Kasra added in, "I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if you were actually good looking, but unfortunately for you, you are too scrawny for my tastes. And with your idiocy on top of that, it is just a horrible mixture. I simply cannot stand by and let you continue your moronic speeches."

Kira busted out laughing at the two of them, practically having to hold her stomach in the process, "These guys are amazing! They've never even met you and they've already figured you out!"

"Quiet you!" Desmond snapped, "We are supposed to be a team!"

"But it's just too good!"

"Stop laughing already and help me attack them!"

"Ya know, I think I'm gonna sit this one out," Kira said, placing her escrima sticks back into their holsters at her hips. She then took a moment to light up her cigarette before leaning back on some boxes.

"What?! We have orders!"

"I did what I came to do. I got the guild master riled up, so I'm done for the day," she answered as she blew out a stream of smoke, "Besides, I'm really liking this guild, so I don't want to beat them up more than I have to. We already have enough enemies on these seas, don't you think?"

"You can't just make decisions like that for yourself! What happens when Bern finds out?"

"Listening to every order like that is gonna get you nowhere in life, ya know that? You should make a decision for yourself once in a while. Might loosen up that stick you have shoved up your ass."

Ingrid laughed at that comment, "I quite like this female Captain."

"She does seem to be smarter than the man," Kasra mentioned, "Mind if I take him out then?"

"Be my guest, love," Ingrid grinned, "But I'll bring a little something out to back you up just in case. Big Tommy!" she said, calling forth a black Tommy Gun and aiming it right at Desmond.

"I highly doubt you'll be able to take me out," Desmond said, turning back to face Kasra, "Your guild master couldn't even take me out."

"Yes, well, Miss Murdock was able to take an attack from the both of you and she is still standing," Kasra replied, "So I do believe that stands for something. You really should not underestimate your opponent. It will get you killed faster if you do."

"Stop toying with him already and get him off my guild!" Cordelia shouted.

"Aye, Miss Murdock," Kasra smiled back at her, "Avatar Soul: Amesha Spenta," he said calmly, igniting his Take Over Magic. His form changed drastically and quickly. He gained a white, carapace-like skin that looked to be like skin tight armor covering him from head to toe. His body became leaner and slightly taller, the power-blocking appendages connected to the back of his calves giving him that added boost in height. Another long appendage was connected to the back of his heels, pushing out a blade in between his big toes when pushed completely down. A dark green carapace covered his back, almost looking like a cloak as it opened up four ways. An oval-shaped golden mask covered his face with six red dots creating the eyes, three on each side of the mask. Finally, on top of his head was a crown-like appendage, "You think that your lightning is fast," Kasra said, the Storm's Helm mages being able to hear the smirk in his voice even if they couldn't see it, "Let us see what it can do up against this form."

"No matter the form, I will win this fight!" Desmond shouted before he took off towards the take over mage with his Lightning Step.

**. : + : .**

"Things seem to be going to way I thought they would," Bern mumbled, watching the fight through a spyglass on the top deck of his ship, "Though, I am a bit surprised to see that the little guild master was able to take the Lightning Burst combo. What a fantastic little mage she is," he said, a sudden smile beginning to spread across his face, "And those other three are just as amazing," he added, referring to Ace, Seth and Eli.

"Vice Admiral," one of his men called out to him. Bern looked back at him with an unamused stare, "I apologize for interrupting, but I have those documents you asked for."

"Oh? Let me take a look," Bern said, reaching out for the four papers that were handed over to him. He read over each paper, his smile growing wider. The papers in his hands would ensure his ability to go after the guild whenever he felt like it. It may cause the guild a bit of trouble in the future, but he supposed it wouldn't be anything they couldn't handle.

"Sir, if I may ask," the man in front of him began, "Is really wise to create these? I mean, Storm's Helm is a legal guild and they haven't really done anything wrong."

"I know, but this guarantees me a decent fight whenever I feel the urge for one."

The man could on sweat drop in response, "This might be taking it a bit too far though, sir. The Admiral won't be happy to find out that you did this just to get some good fights out of the guild once they are out of your jurisdiction."

Bern gave the man a hard stare, causing him to go silent instantly, "I will handle the Admiral when the time comes. You just need to worry about printing out as many of these as you can and forwarding them through our network."

"Yes sir," the man answered as he took the papers back from Bern.

"Oh, and just one small change," Bern said, stopping the man before he could get too far, "Up the little guild master's amount from 2,500,000 jewels to 3,000,000. Seems she has a bit more spunk than I originally thought."

"Yes sir," the man answered, looking down at the papers in his hands. Cordelia's smiling face stared back up at him from the bounty paper he held, the man feeling sorry for the trouble she had somehow stepped into. He sighed as he walked off, knowing that their unit would be yelled at as soon as the Admiral found out about this little stunt. The Admiral wasn't one for breaking rules so easily and Bern had broken those rules four times by sending out these bounties without the Admiral's approval. He just hoped that the four mages he held in his hands could hold out until the Admiral could step in and recall them. Still, the simple papers would mean quite a bit of trouble for them if bounty hunters managed to get a hold of them. It wouldn't just be Bern after them if that happened, "What a horrible form of entertainment," the man mumbled as he continued his walk to the printing room.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

So a few things!

First off, sorry for the lateness of this chapter! I had a rather busy weekend, so I didn't really have much time to sit down and write. I had to push this chapter back a day because of that. But at least I still got one out! CHA!

Second, just a quick note with the bounty. I know that 3,000,000 jewels sounds like a lot (which it still is), but 100 jewels essentially equals 1 dollar. So 3,000,000 jewels equals 30,000 dollars. Just wanted to make a quick note on that in case some of you were wondering about it. The other three amounts for Ace, Seth and Eli will eventually be revealed.

Third! Since I have a couple fun things going on for Thunder Stone, such as the Fun Facts and the Omakes I make for that story, I wanted to do something for Storm's Helm as well. So I decided to do something along the lines of a Storm's Helm Question Corner. What this means is, you all can send in questions for the characters and the characters will answer those questions. You may send these questions in reviews or PMs, it doesn't really matter which to me for these. But I would ask that you refrain from asking anything that may pertain to the main plots of the story. An example would be something like if you were to ask Madmartigan what his past is with Duke. I will not have that question answered as that will reveal something that hasn't been revealed in the main story line. But if something has been revealed, you may ask about it, such as Isaak's and Cordelia's previous relationship. You may not get a straight answer out of the characters about it as they will stay in character when they answer these, but I won't mind questions to something like that as much as main plot questions. So with all that being said, have fun with these questions. They can be weird or funny or whatever, but please do keep in mind that the characters will be answering these questions. So if they have to shout or curse in response to these questions, I am not actually saying those things myself. It is simply the way the character would respond. But I am really excited to start these and I will be answering 1 to 3 of them each chapter, depending on how many I receive. And you can send these in any time you want to. So like you can send one in with each update that comes out or randomly send them in to me. But I figured it'd be a great way to have some fun and also have some more interaction with you all.

Now then! Onto those lovely reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Yep! Not a long break between those action scenes! And we got to see the first half of the fight between Tazz and the boys against Micky, so the conclusion to that to come in the next chapter! Same with the fight between Desmond and Kasra! Hope you enjoyed the update!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you enjoyed that first scene with Sam and Matilda! Haha, and it seems that sidewalk chalk bit worked out well. I remember playing with it all the time as a kid, so it just seemed to fit so well in that scene! But I'm glad you liked that whole scene! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Haha, yeah, I figured sticking in some childhood games would be fun for the guild! And yep, Micky is definitely on the move for getting her revenge! That scene should be concluded next chapter though. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**RansomeNote - **No problem on reviewing! But I am happy to hear you're reading as I update the story and that you've been enjoying things! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

**Joshua1277 - **Yeah, I remember adding all kinds of extra things to foursquare to make it more complicated. So much fun! Haha, yeah, that group is a bunch of punks, but at least they don't back down from a challenge, so going to take on Micky shouldn't be so bad for them…at least that's what they thing at first. And yeah, Kato just won't learn, lol! Yep, Bern gave his Captains the orders to attack, but I'm hoping that Kira got some bonus points for stepping down from the fight after attacking Cordelia. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Well, I'm happy to hear that you don't mind waiting to see those Navy members, lol! But I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter! And you are more than welcome to send in a character that's connected with Jack if you want. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **Well, Natsu's magic is Dragon Slaying and Eli's Red Fire is part of the Rainbow Fire he has. I had to go through and decide on what to make the rest of the colors for Eli myself since only so many have been revealed and what their properties are. So I made Red Fire an extremely hot flame, hotter than any of the other colors. Hope that helps! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Haha, glad you liked that last line! Yep, the Navy definitely isn't finished with Cordelia and her guild, especially now with those bounties! But dealing with the rest of the Navy should be interesting, considering how different each of the Vice Admirals are. Haha, yeah those Captains kinda took that grand entrance, didn't they? And sirens and mermaid to come and how they will affect everyone! And we got to see some of the Captains abilities this chapter! More to come next chapter! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Yep! Lots of fighting going on! Conclusions to each of those fights next chapter! I think that's how it'll work out anyways. But at least they were able to defeat that hydra without Kato creating any more heads, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**AkumaXHwaorang - **Glad all the characters are turning out well for you, especially Gamu. He's just so much fun to write! That perching is just too great to pass up at random times like that, lol! Yeah, Gordon will be a character I get to build on a lot. He'll still have his prick moments for a long while, but he is meant to be a good guy at the end of it all. And it's always good to hear that the emotional scenes are turning out as well as the humorous ones and action ones. Yeah, a few other readers have mentioned the One Piece feel they get from the story too, but they also don't seem to mind it either like you. So I'm glad you're all liking that mixed in with the Fairy Tail feel too! And not to worry on the Navy! There will be some definite by the books members, the Admiral being one of those people as they will be the type to see things in black and white rather than gray areas. But I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Haha, apparently Kato won't learn about those hydra heads. He just kept on going, but at least they were able to destroy it before he created any more! And that would be a pretty good plan of action. Just have Sam link Matilda into an enemy's mind to drive them crazy, lol! And Bones did win that game no matter what anyone else thinks! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Yep, not only are Sam and Matilda hilarious in their positions, they're damn good at their jobs too! And it's just the beginning for them! They're only bound to get better! But now I just keep picturing them as older versions of themselves and it's pretty funny. Sam's just so used to Matilda that he just doesn't even care anymore and Matilda just goes on and on in her excitement, lol! Glad you liked that hopscotch bit! Haha, I'll admit that I've drank a bit before when I write, but for the most part I try to stick with coffee when I write. That way I can actually stay up later and get this stuff finished, lol. And you are quite welcome for Seth showing up like he does! He just fits so well in his spot and he's just such a fun character! He just makes me smile to write him in, even if it's a fight scene! Yep, that hydra was Micky's and nope, Cordelia hadn't known how she got that map until this past chapter. Unfortunately for Rio, he was in grabbing distance of her, so he got the headlock, lol. And I'm glad you liked that moment with Tazz flicking Micky on the nose. I thought it was the perfect way to get Micky to follow her onto the island! And that chapter happened to be one of my own favorites, so I'm glad to hear you really liked it too! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

**Iggy the Strong and Free - **Always happy to see a new reader! But I'm glad I was able to draw you in with the summary of the story! And I'm glad you're liking the story already after the first chapter! And yeah, I figured having Cordelia take over as guild master would be a good way to start things off with a bang! Hope you continue to enjoy the story!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Haha, Bones should get another bone for that awesome hopscotch moment! LOL! And now all I can picture is Excalibur suddenly showing up and shouting 'FOOL' at Kato! I really did laugh at that too much, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you liked the first scene with Sam and Matilda. But yeah, Sam always does his homework! Glad you also liked that chalk scene! Bones totally stole the show with that one! Yeah, Matilda suddenly speaking in an enemy's head would be a pretty good secret weapon, lol. Luckily they got that hydra defeated before Kato could make any more heads. And I'm glad you picked up on that small mention of Rio's past there! And we got to see the first half of the match between Tazz and the boys and Micky! More to come on that next chapter! But yeah, the rest of the guild has their hands full with that hydra and the Captains. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be all I have this time around!

I'll see you all again on Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	20. Song of the Siren

**A/N: **Another Storm's Helm Sunday! (Despite it being super late on Sunday night!)

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 20: Song of the Siren**

**April 11, X72 - Late Morning**

"Tazz!"

Tazz ignored the shouts from the boys, not being able to tear away her focus on the woman beneath her for the moment. The moment she lost that focus, Micky would be able to throw her off. Though, the scrap metal currently piercing into her stomach made it that much harder for her to keep her attention on the woman. Tazz cursed the woman below for being able to form a spike on the shield before she knocked her down. Though, she also knew she wasn't the only one that had been wounded. She held felt her dagger sink through the shield and cut into the woman's arm, which was what she had been aiming for in the first place.

"I'll admit," Tazz began in a low voice, "You're a pretty strong woman. You're sturdy with a decent amount of muscle. Must be from being a mechanic and working with metal. Your body would almost be perfect too," she explained, a smirk appearing on her lips, "But that arm of yours, the one my dagger is through, well it seems that you had an accident a few years back. Got your arm smashed in between some metal, didn't you?"

"How the hell do you know that?"

"So I'm right then," Tazz said, beginning to twist her dagger. Micky clenched her teeth tightly, but didn't let out any sort of shout of pain, "You should really do some research on your opponents before engaging them in battle. Unlike my friends over there, my magic deals with internal attacks. How about we just make that arm completely unusable for the time being. Spark!" she said as an emerald seal of magic appeared above the shield in between them. The seal then sunk down through the shield and right into Micky's arm. This time Micky was unable to keep her shouts contained as bursts of pain shot up through her entire arm, making it feel like small bombs were going off inside of it.

Micky continued to shout in pain, but had forced herself to push her will into her magic in order to get her out of her current situation, "Scrap Build: Beast!" she screamed, causing the other two goblins to dismantle and reform into a huge beast with long and thick arms and sharp teeth. The beast ran towards Micky with full intentions of knocking Tazz off of her.

"I don't think so!" Rio shouted, "Hydropump!" he said as he sent out a pressurized water beam at the beast. It knocked it off its course, the beast tumbling away from the two women. It easily got back up on its feet and roared at Rio. The water mage just smirked in reply as he kept running towards it. He pulled out a neon yellow hacky sack and threw it up into the air, "It sucks that you're made of metal and covered in water now," he said as he jumped up into the air and flipped to add momentum to his kick, "Lighting Hacky!" he shouted, kicking the ball towards the beast. It exploded on contact with the metal, a huge lighting bolt raining down on it. It roared out again before it fell to the ground in a smoking heap. Rio landed on the ground, looking back to see everyone a bit faded out by the fog, "Oi! Hurry up already, Tazz! The longer that woman is conscious, the more scrap monsters we have to fight!"

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?!" Tazz shouted in reply, but kept her eyes locked onto the woman below her, "You might feel like you're about to die, but I'm not really in the business of killing. Think of it as a quick nap," she explained, "But let's get this pesky shield out of the way first," she added as she finally lifted up from Micky. She yanked her dagger out from her arm and shield, pulling the spike out of her stomach in the process. Micky attempted to attack her, but Chris easily kicked the shield out of her hands while Lance moved in to hold her in place, "Thanks boys," she smirked before slamming a hand onto Micky's chest, "Disruption!" she shouted, her emerald seal appearing across the woman's chest. Tazz then concentrated on slowing her own heart rate down which in turn caused Micky's to slow down. Micky gasped at first, the sudden drop in heart rate sending her into a panic, but the longer the affect lasted, the more tired she became. Her movements became sluggish until she had completely passed out. Tazz released her spell then, stumbling back a few steps from having to slow down her own heart in the process.

"Whoa there," Rio said, catching her as she stumbled backwards. He easily sat her on the ground so her back was leaning up against one of his legs.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Chris asked as he kneeled down in front of her to take a look at her stomach.

"I'm fine," she huffed, still feeling a bit lightheaded from her last spell.

"Tch, you don't have to try to act tough all the time," Rio grumbled as he motioned for Lance to come over and take his place. Once the two men had traded places, Rio moved to face the woman, "Move out of the way," Rio said as he pushed Chris to the side and bent down in front of Tazz. He grabbed for the hand that she held over her stomach, but she quickly flinched away from him, "Stop being a stubborn idiot and let me see it. No one else has some sort of healing spell in the group but me, unless you want Lance to burn it close."

"No!" she said quickly as she finally lifted her hand from her stomach.

"Thought so," Rio smirked as he pulled out a bandana from his jacket, "Use this to wipe your hands off," he said before looking down at the wound on her stomach, "She got you pretty good. I won't be able to heal it all, but I can fix it enough for you to make it back to the guild where Jack can finish it up," he explained as he pressed a hand over the wound, "Humidity Heal," he said calmly, a blue magic emitting from his hands and surrounding the cut. It made it so that the hole the spike had made had nearly closed up and the bleeding had slowed, "That should hold you until we get back to the guild," he said as he wiped his hand across the grass to clean the blood from it, "I would just keep the bandana pressed to it until we get back to the guild though."

"Thanks," Tazz said quietly, moving the bandana over the smaller wound like he had told her to.

"What do we do with the pirate?" Lance asked, looking over at the unconscious Micky.

"Just leave her here," Rio said, "I'm sure Cordelia doesn't want her on the guild and I'm also sure her crew is nearby watching what's going on. They'll come and get her eventually. That or she'll go back to her crew when she wakes up."

"Then what about the second clue?" Chris prompted, "We're supposed to be looking for that too, right?"

Rio looked from the older boy back down to Tazz, "We should probably get back to the guild first."

"What?! I can look for a stupid clue!" Tazz shouted, not happy at the prospect of having to go back to the guild empty handed.

"How are we going to do that without a map?! Stupid!" Rio snapped, "Cordelia was supposed to have Sam and Matilda download the map to us for Nebula and that hasn't happened yet. I don't want to get lost on this island, especially when you're not in full working order."

"I'm not useless!"

"I never said you were! But I don't want to risk you reopening that wound again!"

The arguing duo stared each other down until Tazz finally looked away with a huff.

"Besides," Lance began, "I'm a bit worried on why we haven't gotten that map. Cordelia always follows through with things, so I don't like that it's taking so long. Something could be going on back at the guild."

"Then it's settled," Rio said, "We're going back to the guild now."

As soon as those words left his lips, a loud roar echoed across the land. The four mages felt fear run through them as they exchanged panicked stares. It obviously wasn't any of Micky's scraps that made the roar since she was still unconscious, so that only left one option.

"Holy shit!" Chris shouted as a figure of a beast suddenly appeared before them through the fog. A huge and bulking sabertooth tiger stood before them, the beast snarling and showing off its long fangs.

"All right, everyone get ready to run," Rio said, keeping his eyes locked on the tiger as he bent down lowly.

"But what about Tazz?!" Chris hissed in reply, "She can't really run right now."

"I've got it covered, so shut up and run on my count," Rio answered, "Three, two…one!" he shouted. He launched himself forward and pulled Tazz up into his arms before he rounded on his heels and ran with the other two boys. The group had managed to stay together for a short time until the tiger made its first swipe with a large, clawed paw. The three boys split up into three different ways when that happened in order to dodge the attack, "Keep running!" Rio shouted, hoping that Chris and Lance would hear him through the fog. He landed back on the ground with a grunt, instantly having to take off at full speed again since the tiger had managed to stay locked on him.

"You're not gonna be fast enough while carrying me! Just put me down already!" Tazz shouted.

"You really are stupid if you think I'm gonna do that," Rio answered, having to dodge another swipe from the beast's paw, "As soon as I do that, you'll get left behind and eaten by that thing, so just shut up while I think of what to do," he said. The tiger continued swiping at the pair in hopes of catching them, the claws on it giving him the idea he needed to end things, "You're gonna have to hold on tightly for a moment," he said as he maneuvered the girl around so he held her against him with one arm while she had her own arm over his shoulders. This left one of his hands free, which was all he needed at the moment. He turned and came skidding to a stop to face the tiger, "Humid Claws!" he shouted, manipulating the humidity in the air to engulf his hand in an iced sword. He swung down once, the blade cutting across the tiger's face. The beast reared back in pain with a loud roar, giving Rio enough time to break the sword from his hand and pull out the trident from his back to aim at the tiger, "Humid Ice Beam!" he yelled, once again manipulating the humidity in the air. This caused several spears of ice to fly at the beast, a few of them digging into its skin. Not wanting to get injured any further, the tiger turned and ran off from the area.

"You actually did it!" Tazz shouted, staring at the retreating tiger with a shocked expression.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! And that's how you thank someone that just saved your life?!"

"Don't push your luck!" Tazz snapped, bonking the man on the head. Though, the sudden movement had her hissing in pain.

"And don't be pushing your own luck, stupid girl," Rio muttered, doing his best to keep her from moving too much.

"I'm older than you, ya know. You could give me some more respect."

"Not when you act younger than me."

"You're a horrible knight in shining armor," she pouted before a thought hit her, "Betty! We left Betty behind!" she shouted, trying move out of his grasp which only resulted in her clenching up in pain again.

"Calm down. We'll go back for it, but you need to stop moving so much," Rio said, holding her in place tightly. Though, he wasn't able to hold her in place for long when a beautiful singing hit him, causing him to freeze up and for Tazz to escape his grasp.

Tazz was going to make a run for her bike when she realized that Rio wasn't shouting after her like he normally did. She looked behind her to see the man standing still as a statue with his eyes beginning to glaze over, "Rio? What's wrong?" she asked. It was then that she heard the singing off in the distance and she looked around her to see that they had made it into a jungle-like area, "How far did we end up running from that tiger?" she mumbled before looking back at Rio, "OI! You giant moron! Wake up! What's wrong with you?!" she snapped as she bonked him on the head again.

Though, he made no motion that he even felt the hit as he turned away from her and began walking towards the singing.

"Rio!" Tazz shouted, forcing herself to run after him until she stood in front of him. She tried to push on him to get him to stop moving, but the singing that was slowly becoming louder kept him moving forward, "Dammit, looks like there really are sirens here," Tazz said, feeling worried about the other two members of their team since she had no idea where they were and she was sure they were being affected by the singing too. She looked back up at Rio with a frown, "Sorry about this, but if I can at least keep one of you from following those evil witches, then I'll do it. Needle!" she shouted as she targeted a few main points on Rio's body with her hand. She jabbed them quickly when her magic coated her hand, bringing the man down in an unmoving heap, "At least I was able to do that much," she said as she fell to her knees, the affects of her fight with Micky and all the spells she had used that day catching up to her. She crawled over to lean up against a tree, moving Rio along with her. Once his head was placed in her lap, she dropped her head back on the trunk of the tree to stare up through the fog, "Someone better find us soon," she sighed before looking back down at Rio, a scowl quickly appearing on her face, "And I hope you know that you have horrible taste in music," she said, giving his head one more bop for good measure.

**. : + : .**

"You cannot hope to beat me!" Desmond shouted as he skidded around Kasra to come up behind him. He kept his Lighting Step activated to continue to give him the added boost in speed he needed. He ignited his blade in lightning, bringing it forth in a hard strike against the take over mage. Kasra easily dodged the attack, his new form giving him an immense amount of new speed as well. Desmond caught himself before his blade hit the deck and quickly rounded on the man, "I am the justice of these seas and you are causing disorder in them!"

"Disorder?" Kasra repeated, the sound of a smirk still in his voice, "We are merely defending ourselves when we are attacked. If anyone is causing disorder in these seas, it is you. And you call yourself a Naval Captain."

"I have protected countless people in my time in the Navy!" Desmond snapped in response, "Do not mock me and my work!"

"I do not see you protecting anyone now," Kasra said, "In your current state, you are only bound to hurt people, like my wonderful new master. You have stained her pretty white coat due to your arrogance and lack of thinking. It is quite irritating that men like you fill these seas and call yourselves protectors," he said, the smirk in his voice dropping.

"And what do you call yourselves?!" Desmond retorted, becoming flustered at the thought of someone outsmarting him, "You go around sailing wherever you want, doing whatever you want! What does that do for anyone?!"

Desmond had to jump out of the way as Ingrid shot off her Tommy Gun at him. He glared over at her while she simply smiled at him, "We do plenty, if you must know. The world is never as pretty as you wish it to be, _little boy_. Sometimes there are people that exist to do the things that others do not want to believe are needed to be done. Sometimes we have to be those people."

"How foolish of you all!" Desmond continued, not bothering to listen to the words being given to him, "There is good and there is evil! There is black and there is white! There can be nothing in between!"

"By those standards, you are the evil one then," Kasra said, the six red eyes on his mask seeming to narrow in anger, "Your orders were to come onto our guild and attack us. That makes you the villain."

"I am no villain!"

"How irritating," Kasra said, "I have no time for fools who believe in a utopian world. There is no use explaining things further to you."

"I don't know why you wasted time trying to explain them in the first place!" Cordelia snapped, the pain in her shoulders aggravating her and causing her to lose her patience quicker, "Just get him off my guild already!"

Kasra nodded back at her before he decided to put his full focus into the fight. He ran straight for Desmond, jumping up high when the man attempted to strike at him again. He came down behind him and landed a roundhouse kick on his back. Desmond was sent flying across the ship, having to grab onto the edge of it when he fell over the side of it. In an instant, Kasra was standing over him and stepping onto his hand. Desmond let out a shout at the feeling of his hand being crushed. The Captain tried to slam his blade onto Kasra's leg, but the take over mage seemed to already know what he was going to do. He kicked the hand away that held the sword before pulling him up by the arm he had been standing on. Desmond was now face to face with the tall man, all of the six eyes on him.

"What will you do now?" Kasra asked.

Desmond quickly put away his sword at his side before pulling back his now free hand. He built up his electrical energy until a large sphere of lightning was crackling in his palm, "Lightning Strike!" he shouted, throwing his hand forward to punch Kasra in the chest. The hit landed where he had aimed, the lightning exploding across the take over mage. Though, Kasra did not let out any sort of shout or shriek of pain. He had simply stood there, the red eyes staying locked on the man hanging in his grasp. Once the attack had faded, smoke did rise up off of Kasra, but he made no movements that showed he was in any sort of pain.

"That…that attack should have taken you out!" Desmond shouted.

"I will admit that it was an impressive attack," Kasra said, "And had I not been in one of my forms, it probably would have done the damage you desired. But my carapace pieces give me a slight boost in my defenses. You really are a foolish little Captain," he explained as he began to turn to walk him to the other side of the guild to throw him off of it.

Desmond tried to fight against the grip Kasra had him in, but as soon as the pair turned, the Captain was met with a fist to the face. His head spun for a moment from the sheer force behind it and spat out a mouthful of blood as well. He was fairly certain that a bruise would be forming there as well. Desmond then looked up to see who had hit him to see fierce blue eyes staring him down.

"You are worthless as a Captain," Cordelia seethed, wholly disliking the man in front of her.

"You speak as if you know me."

"I know enough after what you've done here today," Cordelia retorted quickly, "I know men and women in the Navy and they are nothing like you. How you ever received the title of Captain, I'll never know, but you've got a lot to learn if you want the respect that comes with that title."

"I have respect!"

"Then it is respect made out of fear and stupidity and meaningless noble titles!" Cordelia shouted, "You clearly saw that we were in trouble with that pirate and the hydra she brought with her. You knew that we were already under attack and yet you continued with your attack against us instead of helping us! You are no protector or bringer of justice of these seas!" she continued, her face turning red from anger, "I don't ever want to see your face on my guild again! Not until you learn what's right and what's wrong! And if you ever attack one of my mages again, you'll be wishing your Vice Admiral had gotten to you first!"

"Yeesh, that's a scary thought," Kira said as she stomped on her finished cigarette and walked over to the group. She looked over towards Cordelia, almost feeling bad about what they had done to her and her guild, "Look, I know you want to kick him off your guild and everything, and honestly, you have every right to. But it's such a pain in the ass for me to go hunt him down in the middle of the ocean, so I would appreciate it if you just let me take him back to our ship."

"So long as he's off my guild as fast as possible, I don't care how it's done," Cordelia growled.

"All right then, mind handing him over?" Kira asked, looking up at Kasra. The man nodded at her and set Desmond on his feet. Desmond quickly yanked himself away from the take over mage only to be gripped tightly on the ear by Kira, "Come on, you idiot," she said, beginning to pull him away from the group and towards the small boat on the side of the guild they had used to come over on, "I'm pretty sure you caused way more problems than you needed to today. You're so damn annoying sometimes."

"You are no walk in the park either!"

Kira simply ignored him as she came to a stop at the side of the guild. She glanced back at the mages behind her, "And just so you know, not all of us Navy members see in only black and white. Some of us know when to enter that gray area you spoke of," she said, knowing she would get no reply from any of them other than hard stares, "Tough crowd," she said before jumping down to her boat and forcing Desmond with her.

Silence filled the guild for a long moment, no one moving or saying a single word. It was Cordelia that broke the silence and began moving across the deck.

"What a fucking waste of time," she said lowly.

"Cor, where are you going?" Eli asked.

"I have to get up to the front ship. Sam and Matilda still need to send over the map to the others on the island."

"But your shoulder."

"It's fine," she huffed, "I need to make a connection with the others on the island first to make sure they're all right."

"Cordelia," Eli said, reaching out to grab an arm, "You need to get yourself checked out first."

"I said, I'm fine!" she snapped, pulling away from Eli, "I have other things to worry about at the moment! I have four mages on an island they know nothing about and without some sort of map and a pirate to fight! I have to worry about them first! Dammit! Those fucking Captains messed everything up!" she shouted, throwing her hands up into the air, "Shit! That hurts!" she hissed, pulling the arm connected to the bleeding shoulder back down quickly and grabbing onto it with her other hand.

"Look, we can send someone else up to the navigation cabin to talk to Sam and Matilda," Eli said in a hard tone, "You need to go see Jack first."

"If you're that worried, then why don't you just burn it shut for me?!"

"Maybe I will with an attitude like that!"

"Okay, let's take a breather for a moment," Seth said as he came to stand in between the two. He looked down at Cordelia with a concerned stare, "He's just worried about you, you know. It was a pretty nasty hit you took."

"I know that, but the four on the island-"

"Will be all right," Seth finished for her, "They are mages. You need to trust that they can manage by themselves for a bit. And there's four of them and one pirate. Their chances of winning are high, so give yourself a moment to calm down."

Cordelia looked between Seth and Eli a few times before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. She did this a few times, willing away the anger she felt towards the Captains for the time being, "Sorry for snapping at you," she said, looking over at Eli, "But I'm still going to the navigation cabin."

Seth sighed as Eli started arguing with the woman again, the two walking up to the front ship as they did so.

"It's like the only way they know how to interact with each other," Seth said as Zinnia came to stand next to him.

"Mmm, maybe to the public eye," Zinnia said with a knowing smile, "But they do have their moments."

"Well I wish they would have more of them."

"Yeah, but I would have been more worried about her if she hadn't started an argument with him. It's how I know she's still okay."

"I think you should have a better system for that."

Zinnia simply shrugged in reply, "It's worked ever since we were kids, so why change it now?"

"Sometimes change is good," Seth said as he watched the arguing pair completely disappear into the fog.

**. : + : .**

"Cor! Would you slow down at least?!" Eli demanded.

"What? Can't keep up with me suddenly?"

"If you fall over into the water in this fog, how am I supposed to find you?"

"Who said anything about falling into the water? Are you gonna push me or something?" she asked, rounding back on him right in the middle of the bridge that led up to the front cabin.

Eli had to stop quickly before he ran into her, "If you stop like that, I might!"

"Sometimes you're just so…so…so ugh!" she said as she threw her hands up into the air again, which she instantly regretted.

The angry face Eli wore instantly dropped when he saw that pained expression cross her face again. He gently grabbed the arm that had the wound on it and slowly pulled it down before she yanked it down and hurt it even more, "The reason I'm so 'ugh' as you so eloquently put it," he began, causing a pout to appear on her face, "Is because you never bother to look after yourself half the time. You think no one notices these things, like letting your wounds go unchecked before others or not getting enough sleep because you worry so much, but I notice it. I look after you because I know you won't do it yourself. You may be the guild master now, but you're still my Cor."

"Eli, I…" she started before fading off, seeing the honesty in his gold eyes. She finally let a soft smile appear on her lips, "Your Cor, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I want to know, what does that statement mean to you?"

A heavy silence came over the pair, Eli not having expected to be asked a question like that. He suddenly found himself staring down at the hand he still held in his own, not being able to keep his eyes locked onto her own. The intensity in those blue eyes of hers was too much for him to handle at the moment. Though, he found himself being forced to look at them as she gently lifted his chin up with her free hand. The smoothness of her skin seemed to help calm his nerves a bit, as her touch always had that affect on him.

"Cor, I-" he started, but was quickly cut off as someone ran into him from behind. This caused him to trip forward and knock Cordelia over the side of the bridge in the process. Luckily, Eli reacted quickly and managed to grab one of her hands, which happened to be the one with the cut on the shoulder.

"Holy fuck! It hurts so much!" Cordelia cried. She looked up to see Eli holding onto her and Ace standing next to him, "ACE! I'm gonna kill you! For so many reasons, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Whoops," Ace said, "I can't see anything in this fog though!"

"That's no excuse!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have been standing in the middle of the bridge!" he shouted in return, "What were you two doing anyways?" he asked, eyeing them both suspiciously.

"None of your business!" Cordelia yelled, "Just know that I'm going to kill you soon!"

Eli pulled the woman back up in the middle of her rant, feeling relieved and annoyed at the same time by Ace's sudden appearance. He made sure to place Cordelia on the other side of him to keep her from lashing out at her brother for the moment and making her wound worse. He then turned to look at the younger man, "What were you doing running up here in the first place?"

"I heard the end of the fight going on earlier and I wanted to make sure everyone was all right. Seth told me that you two came this way to get to the navigation cabin. And he told me that Cordi had been attacked by those Captains. Are you all right?" he asked, looking over at his sister.

"Yeah, I'm fucking peachy," she grumbled before making her way across the rest of the bridge.

"What's her problem?"

"A wounded shoulder and your bad timing," Eli answered with a huff.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Eli just rolled his eyes in response as he quickly followed Cordelia's path with Ace close on his heels. The two had just stepped up onto the deck and watched as Cordelia made her way up towards the cabin that Sam and Matilda were currently in when they heard singing that instantly caught their attention.

"Cordelia!" Matilda shouted when Cordelia appeared before them.

"Hey you two," Cordelia smiled, "Sorry for taking some time, but I need you to connect with the group on the island."

"Cordelia, I'm feeling worried about the area the guild has entered," Sam said, "We've been making our way around the island and things suddenly got really quiet. That's not normal."

"It's fine, now about that connection."

"Cordelia, listen," Sam continued, "According to the map that Matilda has, there's a sudden dip in the land, like it's been carved out…like a cove. I think we need to move away from this area now until we're better prepared to handle sirens and mermaids."

"We'll worry about all that in a moment, but I really need to connect with the group on the island."

"You're not listening!" Sam snapped, causing the cabin to go quiet.

In that silence, singing started to drift through the air, sending a cold chill down their spines. Cordelia looked behind her to make sure Eli and Ace had still been with her, but the space behind her was empty, "Where are those two?" she mumbled as she peeked her head back outside. Through the fog, she could see the hazy figures of the two men just standing on the deck, "Oi! You two get a move on already!" she shouted, but there was no movement from either of them.

"Maybe you should go check on them," Matilda said, a worried look crossing her face.

Cordelia ran out from the cabin and back down to the two men, seeing a glazed look in their eyes. The singing was slowly becoming louder and this seemed to finally get the two men to move, "Hey! What are you two idiots doing?!" Cordelia shouted, but they didn't show any signs that they heard her.

"Cordelia! It's the sirens!" Sam called down to her.

"Shit!" Cordelia cursed as she jumped in front of the two men, "I don't think so!" she shouted as she tried to push the two of them back. Though, with a wounded shoulder and against two men that were both taller and broader than her, it made it an almost impossible task. She quickly kicked Ace back further into the deck, shouting at Matilda and Sam to handle him. She then turned her full attention on Eli, moving in to grapple him around the waist to keep him held back. While Cordelia was physically fit and strong in her own right, Eli had more muscle and man power on his side. This made it hard to force him to move anywhere, but she'd be damned if she just gave up, "Wake up, you moron! It's just some stupid song! Don't let it control you!"

Though, no matter how much she pleaded, Eli didn't seem to hear a single word of it. Her only hope was to force him away from the edge of the ship and to come up with some sort of plan to get them out of this. She knew that if she was having trouble up here on the front ship, that the rest of her guild was probably having just as much trouble as she was. She could only hope that the rest of the women on the guild would be strong enough and smart enough to keep the men at bay for as long as it took for them to fix things. And she could only hope that the other four on the island were able to handle themselves as well as Seth said they could because there was no way she would be making a connection with them any time soon.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

All right! It's time for the first Question Corner! I will be stating the question and who it's from and then proceed to answer it from the character's POV.

Our first question comes from Momochan77 for Gamu:

**How did you become good friends with Cordelia?**

**Gamu: ***cocks head to the side with a goofy smile* Cordelia was the first person to hug me when I came onto the guild with Duke.

**Cordelia: ***suddenly runs onto the screen and tackles Gamu in a hug* GAH! He's just so cute! How could you not love a face like that?!

**Watson: **The question was really just meant for Gamu.

**Cordelia: **Do you really think he has that long of an attention span? You're lucky that you even got a full sentence out of him!

**Gamu: **Cordelia was also the first person to defend me when someone…tried to…make fun of…*suddenly starts playing with Watson's curly hair*

**Watson: **…He's just so cute!

**Cordelia: **See?! I told you!

**Watson: **Ahem…well you got the simplest answer for this question I suppose. Though, Gamu was the one answering it, lol. But look out for flashbacks! There just might be one where Gamu comes onto the ship for the first time so we can see what really happened when they first met!

**Cordelia: **You're hogging him all to yourself!

**Watson: **It's not like I asked him to do it!

**Cordelia: **I have guns, ya know!

**Watson: **And I have the ability to write you paired up with Gordon!

**Cordelia: ***silence*

**Watson: **Thought so!

**Gamu: **Isn't Gordon secretly your own Gajeel of the guild?

**Watson: **GAH! Don't tell them that! This interview is over!

**. : + : .**

Our next question comes from DarkHyena for Mia:

**Now you don't have to tell us, but can you give us a hint of who your crush is?**

**Hagi: **OOOOHHHHHH! A love question already!

**Watson: **How did you get in here?! I told the producers to keep you out while this question was being asked!

**Hagi: **Ahaha…I don't really know. I was daydreaming and the next thing I knew, here I was!

**Watson: **Sigh…so Mia, would you please answer the question.

**Mia: ***blushes* Why do I have to be asked this first?! Couldn't Cordelia or Zipporah have gotten this question instead?!

**Watson &amp; Hagi: **No. Their love interests have already been shown a bit. We want to know yours.

**Mia: ***cries* Fine! I like tall men with a protective nature. And I also like them to be gentlemen and that they can act fatherly towards children.

**Watson &amp; Hagi: **We asked for your crush not a dating profile description!

**Mia: ***cries harder* I don't know what you want me to say! I have someone I like, but I can't just say that to the camera! But he's a super nice guy and he wouldn't ever make me do things like this!

**Watson: ***pushes Hagi forward* Go hug her or something!

**Hagi: **Why me?!

**Watson: **Because I don't know how to deal with crying people very well! And she's your BFF!

**Hagi: **I fear for your own BFF if you can't handle this.

**Watson: **You don't know me! Or my BFF! You leave her out of this! *turns back towards audience* Due to Mia being overcome with emotion, we'll have to stop this interview short. But we should get more on Mia's crush soon since I think I've gotten it figured out now! CHA! *turns back to Hagi due to Mia crying harder* I told you to hug her not encourage her to use her boobs to get men! You idiot!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

I think I might have gotten carried away with that Question Corner, haha! But it really was fun, so hopefully you all liked it too and continue to send in more questions!

And that chapter was lots of fun to write as well! And I couldn't help myself with that Cordelia and Eli teaser. I'm sure there will be a few of you that will be upset at me for having Ace interrupt that, lol!

But I think that's it for now, so we'll get right into those reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Identity Crisis - **Haha! Yep! Another cliff hanger! And more in this chapter too! But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and all the battles in it! And thanks for sending in your question! It will be answered in the near future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Yeah, I left you all hanging with that Tazz/Micky fight! But yeah, Micky totally messed up on taking Betty since Tazz is pretty protective of her. Yeah, the Captains were quite arrogant, mostly speaking in Desmond's case, but that all got resolved this chapter, so hopefully Desmond learned something from that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **Haha! Yep, gotta keep you all on your toes with this action! Plus, I enjoy writing it! But I have been on a pretty good role with both stories, so I don't want to lose that momentum! And thanks for your question! It will be answered some time in the near future. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Glad to hear you enjoyed that first battle scene! Yeah, the boys really did need Tazz to take out Micky since they could only slow down the scrap metal. Yep, Drayden did a pretty good number to that hydra. And those Captains really have to watch out now. Trash talking like that on the guild can only end badly for them! And yep, some members got bounties, so we'll see how that all turns out soon. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **LOL! That shocking comment! But I'm glad you liked the fight scenes and those bounties that are coming out now! Thanks again for the character you sent in recently! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **I'm glad you like the concept of the question corner! And I hope you liked the first one that came out in this chapter! Thanks for both of them that you sent in! Your second question will be answered soon. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep! Bern totally set up bounties on Cordelia and Co.! Glad you liked that idea! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Yeah, fanfiction tends to do stupid weird things like that. Like I have to go back and redo my links to the pictures of the characters now since they messed that up somehow…anyways! I'm glad you liked that first scene with Tazz and the boys. It's always great having Rio, Lance and Chris interacting together. I really do like all their magic types and how they work together with them. And yeah, with Tazz, I needed her to get away from the group for a moment so she could scan over Micky to find her weak points, so ta-daa! She was smacked away by the knight! And her magic is pretty awesome since it attack internally rather than externally. Haha! Yep, Desmond and Kira are both lightning mages. It took me a bit to realize that they both used the same magic but in slightly different ways, and I was like hey! This totally works since I can make them into this weird team with this! So I'm glad to hear that you liked them too! Yep, I figured it was time to bring out that wyvern form, lol. And yep, I remember that his magic can do chimera like things. I'm just waiting for the right moment to bring out that aspect. Trust me, it's killing me to not use that ability of his magic, but just wait until he's up against one of the pirates! Haha! And I'm glad you liked Bern and those bounties! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Haha! You're pretty worried about Tazz, aren't you? But never fear! We got to find out what happened in this chapter! But I'm glad you also like the scene with the Captains and Kasra and Ingrid dropping in. Yep, Bern will do about anything for a good fight, so what better way to ensure he gets one than by putting bounties on those people? Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Haha! Yep, I just left you guys hanging with that Tazz and Micky moment! Muwhahahahaha! But we got to see the end of that fight this chapter, so it's all okay…sorta since they're still stuck on that island and the sirens started singing! Yeah, the Captain's scene was only a small glimpse on what they could do. I have plans, you see, lol! We'll be seeing more of them in the very near future! But the moment I know you're waiting to happen with Desmond won't happen on this island, but never fear! It's coming! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Yep, gotta keep you guys on your toes with these action scenes! And we found out this chapter on what happened with Tazz and that stab wound. It's a bit different than how you were probably picturing it turning out though since they're still stuck on the island with the sirens singing now. Yeah, those bounties will be interesting when they finally come about. Thanks for your question! It will be answered some time in the near future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **No worries on the review! I know real life stuff happens. But I hope everything you had to take care of with exams and projects went well! But I'm glad to hear that you liked the battle scene with the three guys and that knight! It's just so much fun to toss Lance around like that! But we got to find out what happened to Tazz this chapter, so she's okay…for the moment anyways. Yeah, Drayden did a pretty good number on that hydra. And I'm glad you liked that scene with the lightning Captains. Cordelia was not happy at all! And Kasra's take over forms are pretty awesome, so I'm glad that you all liked them too! Haha! Bern has to have his fights, so he'll put bounties out if he has to! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **You procrastinator you! Haha! But I'm sure that Nanami will think that Tazz's actions were reckless, but she would also still be concerned about her, but I think Tazz did well with the ending of her fight still! Yeah, Jean had to take hold of that situation unless they wanted more head to deal with! And yeah, those Captains, Desmond more so, are a bit arrogant, but that only seemed to get him into trouble. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	21. Queen of the Sirens

**A/N: **BOOM! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 21: Queen of the Sirens**

**April 11, X792 - Midday**

Chaos is what Nanami Shiraki had walked out into from the female S-Class dorm ship and made her way onto the middle ship. She could hear loud singing taking over the guild, which she guessed is what had all the men in a frenzy. From what she could tell, all the men had been hypnotized by the singing and were attempting to walk towards it. The women were doing the best they could to keep the men away from the sides of the ships. Nanami ran up to Mia and Hagi when she saw them in the mix of the chaos.

"What happened?"

Mia looked up at Nanami when she asked the question, a feeling of relief coming over her when she saw the S-Class mage, "We're not really sure. This singing started and then the men all went still for a moment before they tried to walk towards it. We think it's probably sirens."

"Probably," Nanami agreed, looking over at Hagi, "And how have you not became hypnotized like the rest of the men?"

"It'll take more than some silly song to overpower me!"

Nanami and Mia exchanges glances, both having the same thoughts of, 'It's because he's not manly at all.'

"Well then, you can both be of some help with making sure that none of the men jump over the edge of the ship. We can't let a single one of them fall. You think you can handle that?" Nanami asked.

"Of course!"

"Good," Nanami said, "I'll be finding the rest of the S-Class and dealing with them myself. If you happen to find one of them, try to send up some sort of signal for me. Even though they may be hypnotized right now, they still have the strength to push forward towards the singing. Keep that in mind with any of the people you run into. And relay the same orders to anyone else that can help."

"Yes ma'am!"

As Nanami watched the two of them go, she noticed Jean, Seth and Devin were on the same deck at her at the moment, "Well, that makes things a bit easier for me," she said, beginning to make her way towards the group. Though, she noticed a difference in the way that Devin was acting compared to the other two men. When she was close enough to him, she saw that he was wearing his headphones, the music blasted up as loud as it could go. He was doing what he could to keep both Seth, who had Gamu perched up on his shoulder still, and Jean back. She came up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. When he looked up at her, she saw that his eyes weren't glazed over like the rest of the men on the ship.

"It's Shiraki," Gamu said, catching Nanami off guard. She looked up at the man to see that his eyes were clear before glazing over quickly. He stayed that way for a moment before he broke away from the singing, "It's Shiraki," he repeated before his eyes glazed over again.

Nanami could only sweat drop at this, 'I guess that's what a short attention span does to a man,' she thought before turning back to Devin. She motioned to stop for a moment so she could take care of the two men herself. He stepped back just as she pulled out Swallowtail. She cut open the space in front of both men so they could walk through it before cutting another two lines for them to come out of and walk back into the first lines, creating a loop like she had done to Tazz before. She then turned back to Devin, "Get up to the front of the ship to check on Cordelia," she said, the man being able to lip read fairly well due to wearing his headphones so often. He nodded at her and took off running towards the front ship. She looked back over the deck she stood on and decided that everyone there could handle the hypnotized men well enough. She had to find Securus and make sure he wasn't trying to jump over the side of the ship from the singing.

She took off towards the male S-Class dorm ship, remembering that being the last place he was at since he still felt too ashamed to show his face on the main deck. She ran down the bridge that led to it in time to see Securus about to step over the edge, mermaids swimming in the water below while they waited for him. One of them had even managed to pull herself up by a side rope and was close enough to swipe at his leg and cause him to trip into the water.

"You idiot!" Nanami shouted as she raced over towards the man. She leapt forward and kicked the mermaid across the face, causing the creature to hiss at her, "You were not invited onto the guild, so it is time for you to leave," she said to the blue scaled woman.

"We will take your men with us. It is there own fault for being so weak," the mermaid said, trying to reach out for Securus again.

Without saying anything, Nanami kicked the woman in her chest and knocked her off the boat. She then yanked on Securus's coat and threw him back onto the deck. She then trapped him in a loop like she had with Jean and Seth, "You really owe me now, Securus-kun. Buying me sake and sashimi for a week should make up for all the trouble you have caused me recently."

"You'll have to get that reward from someone else," a smooth female voice said, "Your men will be ours."

Nanami turned to see a woman-like creature flying down onto the deck. While most of her body was that of a curvaceous woman covered in a few pieces of light armor, her legs were that of a bird's. Long, black hair tumbled down her shoulders and back and striking, red eyes were locked onto Nanami. Aside from the bird legs, the most noticeable feature of the woman were the large black wings on her back. As she landed with a heavy thump, Nanami could hear her talons clicking on the deck. The woman also held a long, broadsword.

"Who are you?" Nanami asked.

"I am Ekho, First General to our lady, Adonia, Queen of the sirens," the woman said, standing tall in pride, "You have the unfortunate luck of coming in too close to Angel's Cove. It's been a while since someone came in this close to our home and we cannot simply let your men go so easily. It's been so long since we've had a decent meal," she said, a long tongue slipping out to lick her lips. This allowed Nanami a brief glimpse of the sharp teeth that laid behind the woman's lips, "The animals on this island cannot measure up to human flesh and young men always taste the best."

Nanami stared back in disgust, "You will not take our men," she said, her grip on Swallowtail tightening, "You will not take our nakama away!"

"I'd like to see you stop us," Ekho said with a wicked smile.

'I need to make this a quick fight,' Nanami thought, 'I can already feel the affects of using my magic on those three. It'll keep draining quickly if I let this go on too long.'

"I hope you're ready," Ekho said before she charged Nanami. She brought her sword down in a hard strike, forcing Nanami to throw up her own blade to block the attack. The two women struggled back and forth for a moment before Nanami managed to knock the siren's sword aside.

"Space Cutter: Quick Dream!" Nanami shouted, slashing her katana upwards. This sent out a quick, red wave of distortion in space towards Ekho. Once the wave hit the woman, it left her in a disoriented state, one that was long enough for Nanami to jump back and think of her next attack, "Space Cutter: Shadow Chase!" she said, cutting open a red hole in space. She quickly jumped into it, disappearing for a moment only to reappear behind Ekho. She swung outwards with her feet first, kicking the siren as hard as she could. The siren wasn't ready for the surprise attack and was sent flying across the deck until she smashed into some boxes.

"You're going to pay for that, you little wench!" Ekho shouted, bursting forth from the smashed boxes. A thin line of blood fell from her forehead and she had scratches along her body, "Piercing Shriek!" she said before releasing a high pitched scream at Nanami. Nanami instantly dropped to her knees from the loud and piercing sound, covering her ears with her hands. Though, her ears were still ringing once the shriek had faded. Because of this, she wasn't able to hear Ekho walking up to her, allowing the woman to slam a foot down on her. Her talons broke the skin where they landed, blood beginning to stream from the wounds on her chest.

"Let's get rid of that pesky sword, shall we?" Ekho said, knocking Swallowtail from Nanami's hands with her broadsword, "Not so tough now, are we? And your magic is still draining, isn't it? At least while you have that loop going for that man over there," she said, pointing towards Securus.

Nanami looked over to see Securus still walking in the loop she set up and she could feel her magic draining into that loop along with the two others that held Jean and Seth, 'Stay calm,' she thought, 'Just think through your next move.'

"Say, why don't we free up some of your magic by getting rid of him already?" Ekho asked with a laugh. Nanami's eyes went wide as the siren above her set her sights on Securus. All reasonable thought left her mind as she watched the woman lift her wings up to send out an air attack that would be strong enough to knock the man off the boat.

Nanami quickly released all the loops she had going, sending a silent apology to whoever would have to deal with Seth and Jean now. Ekho flapped her wings forward, sending out a huge burst of air, "Securus-kun! You idiot!" Nanami shouted as she clamped her hands around the woman's leg, "I won't let you take my nakama!" she continued, finding the strength to lift the leg up off of her chest. She cringed when the talons ripped out of her skin, but she kept on lifting the leg off of her. When it was lifted high enough, Nanami swung her legs up to kick the woman in the back. She continued with the momentum in her legs until she was now standing on top of the siren, who was smashed against the deck.

Nanami looked up to see the gust of air still traveling towards Securus. She pushed off of the woman and grabbed Swallowtail from where it had been thrown to as she ran for the man. The gust of wind hit him, and since he was still in a hypnotized state, he easily flew off of the deck, "Securus-kun!" Nanami shouted, knowing there would be vicious mermaids waiting for him in the water. She ran and jumped off the side of the boat, slashing the space in front of her as she fell. She reappeared underneath Securus and caught him in her loop before he smacked into the water. She opened a new tear in space that would have them landing back on deck. They landed in an ungraceful heap, Nanami quickly smacking Securus in the head with the blunt end of her sword to knock him out. She had refrained from doing that earlier since she hadn't wanted to hurt anyone in the process.

"You bitch!" Ekho yelled, having stood back up again with a bruise across her face from where she had been smacked into the deck, "I'll kill you for what you've done to me!"

Nanami was panting from using so much of her magic in such a short amount of time, but she gripped her sword once again and stood back up on her feet, "You may be a so called general," Nanami said as she straightened her back out, "But I am an S-Class mage of Storm's Helm. I will not let you win! Space Cutter: Helm Bash Chaos!" she shouted, using what was left of her power to make a final blow on the woman. She tore open another hole in space and jumped through it. She reappeared below Ekho, a leg coming out of the tear first to land a powerful kick to her jaw. Ekho's teeth clack together, the woman spitting out blood from the attack as she was sent flying up into the air. When Ekho was at her highest point in the air, Nanami appeared from above her and landed another powerful kick to her head. This sent Ekho back down to the deck, landing against it in a heavy crash. The siren had been knocked out, blood pouring from her mouth and nose while her face with fill with bruises.

Nanami landed back on the deck with shaky legs. She stared at Ekho's unmoving body for a moment to make sure she really wasn't going to get back up. Once it was apparent that the siren was down for the count, Nanami placed Swallowtail back into its sheath before dropping to the ground in exhaustion.

"I was wrong Securus-kun," Nanami said, "You will owe me two weeks worth of sake and sashimi now."

**. : + : .**

"All right, ya'll heard what Mia and Hagi told us!" Aria shouted, standing in a small circle with Zipporah and Alisa, "We have to hold off the men at all costs! When you see an idiot get too close to the edge, push 'em back!"

Alisa sighed, "Your speech is just so horrible."

"No one gives a shit about that right now, Miss Prissy Pants!" Aria snapped, turning on the woman quickly, "Just to your dang job!"

"She's right this time, Alisa," Zipporah said before the two could get into an argument, "We have other things to worry about at the moment."

"Fine," Alisa huffed, "But we will be having another tutoring session once all this is through."

"Whatever," Aria said as she called out a sword to use, "Rokuryu!" she shouted. A gold greatsword with a green hilt appeared in her hands. She felt it would be the best one to use at the moment since the sword had a wind attribute that increased her speed, "Let's do this!" she said before taking off to one end of the main ship. She started kicking and knocking back men with the broad side of the sword. She zipped around the fog at a high speed, continuing around the edge of it to knock men back.

"If she is not careful, she is going to fall off the edge herself," Alisa said as she stepped forward next, "It will be much more effective if we just knock them out instead of letting them go back toward the edge," she said, pulling out her lead pipes and aiming them each at a different man, "Charge Beam!" she shouted, sending out beams of electricity at the two men. While it might have hurt them in the process, it did the job Alisa set out to do since the two men fell to the deck in unconsciousness.

"You want to use your electricity to catch those three over there?" Zipporah said, pointing towards Jean, Seth and Gamu, "Looks like Shiraki had to lift the loop she had them in.

"I am on it," Alisa said before making her way over towards the trio, "Electric Web!" she said, sending out a large web of electricity at the men. It easily stuck to them and quickly set in a temporary paralysis. The three men went down fairly easily after that, Alisa keeping the web on them for the time being as she moved onto other men to stun.

Zipporah turned to start helping as well, her eyes quickly landing on Gordon as she did so. A panicked look crossed her face when she saw him getting near the edge and with Aria on the other side of the deck at the moment, "Looks like I have to stop him then," she said as she ran up to the metal mage, "Diamond Make: Encasement!" she shouted as she slammed her hand down on the deck near him. Diamond quickly flowed out from her hand and moved around Gordon's feet and legs to lock him in place, "That should keep you in place until all this is over," she smiled as she turned to go help the next person. Though, she was stopped from doing that as a creature landed in front of her.

"You're quite annoying, stopping our meals like this, fufufu," it said. It was a siren that stood before Zipporah, she knew that much, what with the bird legs and the red wings on its back. Short, pixie-cut red hair crowned her head while golden eyes stared down Zipporah, the siren wearing a devilish grin and carrying a spiked mace, "I am Kalliste, Captain under First General, Ekho, who serves our lady, Adonia, Queen of the sirens! Today is the day you will die, fufufu! For intervening with out meals, fufufu!"

"What's with the 'fufufu'?" Zipporah asked, her eye twitching in annoyance.

"It is my victory laugh, fufufu! You will remember well even in your death, fufufu!"

"The hell I will!" Zipporah shouted, as she pulled out her black rapier, "Encasement!" she continued, encasing her entire blade in sharp diamond, "I won't let you take our men!"

With that, she took off towards the siren. She brought the rapier down in a hard strike, but the siren was much faster than she accounted for. Kalliste sidestepped the blade and moved in towards Zipporah with a hard punch to her gut. Zipporah coughed hard as she was sent sliding backwards a few feet.

"Stupid girl, you can't just go charging in against a siren," Kalliste said, "That'll only end your life quicker, fufufu! Kalliste's Power Strike!" she shouted as she swung her mace down towards Zipporah. The diamond mage moved backwards, but panicked when she saw how close the weapon got to Gordon, "Oh! You seem awfully worried for this particular man, fufufu! Maybe I should eat him now, fufufu!" she said, her tongue sliding out in hunger as she wrapped an arm around Gordon, "Would you like to become my meal? It would be quite the honor for you, fufufu!"

Zipporah's anger grew as she watched the woman's lips pull back to show off her sharp teeth. Those sharp teeth then began making their way towards Gordon's neck in order to bite down on the jugular. Zipporah put away her rapier and ran towards the siren while shouting, "Diamond Make: Knuckles!" This created brass knuckles made of diamond on both hands. With Kalliste solely focused on Gordon, it gave Zipporah the chance she needed to smash a fist into the woman's face. The woman's head went flying back with blood and teeth flying out with it, "You stay away from my nakama!"

"You bitch!" Kalliste growled, holding her bleeding mouth with one hand, "I'll make sure you pay for that tenfold!"

"You asked for it when you came onto our guild!" Zipporah said, taking on a fighting pose with her fists up in the air, "Bring it on!"

The siren shouted in anger as she ran towards Zipporah, wielding her mace with both hands. Zipporah readied herself for the frontal attack, so she was caught off guard when Kalliste flew up into the air at a high speed and reappeared behind her. Just as Zipporah stared to turn to face the woman, the mace was slammed into her side. Zipporah let out a shout as the spikes sunk into her skin and the ball part of the mace slammed into her ribs. She knew a few had to be broken now as she was flung across the deck. She skidded to a stop on her side, blood pouring out from her wounds.

"I told you this would be the day you die, fufufu!" Kalliste said as she landed right next to the fallen woman, "I'll kill you and then eat that man! You can see each other in the afterlife, fufufu!" she said, laughing loudly as she raised her mace in order to bring it back down on Zipporah's head.

"I won't die…I still have so much I want to do," Zipporah said lowly, "And I refuse to die against someone with such a horrible laugh! Diamondback!" she shouted, covering her entire body in diamond. She jumped up just as the mace came down, the weapon sticking into the deck. Kalliste stared at the now empty spot with surprised eyes. Zipporah took that moment to slam a fist down onto the woman's wrists, instantly breaking them. Kalliste shouted in pain as she stumbled backwards away from her weapon, "How dare you touch my nakama! And to eat them no less!" she continued, slamming a leg into the woman's gut. Kalliste was now the one to cough out as she skidded across the deck. She went down to her knees, panting heavily in pain as Zipporah ran towards her, "None of you will be eating our men today!" she said before jumping up into the air in order to come down on her with a heavy kick. The blow was enough to knock the woman out, her body sprawling across the ground, "Looks like the victory is mine, fufufu," she said in a mocking tone before her diamond skin disappeared and she dropped to the ground while holding her bleeding side.

**. : + : .**

"Eli! Wake the hell up!" Cordelia shouted as she continued to struggle against the man. She tried pushing him back, and while it did slow him down, he had managed to get closer and closer to the edge of the ship. Cordelia had thought about knocking him out several times, but then she thought he could be helpful in their current situation if the spell on him could be broken. She looked over to see that Matilda and Sam were still dealing with Ace.

"Let's play keep Ace in the middle of the deck!" Matilda said, pushing Ace back to the middle of the deck every time he tried to move.

"I have a better idea," Sam said, pulling up his Archive Magic. He clicked on a few buttons quickly, "Get out of the way, Matilda," he warned, the woman quickly following his orders, "Force Shield!" he said as he clicked a final button. This created a large dome of screens around the sword mage. Normally, Sam would use this spell on himself, as the shield would also blast away anyone who hit it, but it could also be used to imprison someone.

"Ooohhh! You're so smart, Sam! How did you do that? Your Archive Magic is rather versatile compared to others I've seen! What a great guy you-" Matilda said before stopping quickly to eye the young boy beside her, "Wait a minute…why aren't you affected by the singing too?!"

Sam had been caught off guard by the question and looked unsure of what to say for a moment, sweat beginning to roll down his head. Though, he quickly recovered and cleared his throat, "That's because I'm too intelligent to be caught up in some silly song."

Matilda looked thoughtful for a moment before a smile broke across her face, "That makes so much sense! You are so smart! You're will power must be top notch!"

Sam sighed in relief as the woman continued going on and on. He then looked over to see Cordelia still struggling with Eli. Just as he was about to walk over to help her, a haughty laugh interrupted the scene.

From the fog, a woman flew down, her bird legs landing on the deck gracefully. Long, blonde hair flowed all around her and her icy blue eyes held a regal look in them. Huge, pure white wings were extended behind her and she held a shotel in each hand, the curved swords looking quite deadly.

"Who the hell are you?!" Cordelia asked.

"I am Adonia, Queen of the sirens. You should feel honored that I have come to grace you with my presence."

"Honored? More like I'm really fucking pissed off! Call off your attack now!"

"I shall do no such thing," Adonia said, "You have come into my territory and I have an obligation to feed my people. Your men will fill that obligation quite nicely. It has been so long since we have gotten to sink our teeth into human flesh."

"You will not eat my men!"

"Ah, so it appears that you are the person in charge here," Adonia said, her lips lifting up into a smirk, "I will make a bargain with you. You give us your men and we will leave the rest of you in peace."

"The hell I will!" Cordelia answered instantly, "These are my nakama! My family! I will not let you tear my family apart!"

"Oh, we will tear them apart, delicious bone by delicious bone," Adonia said, using her speed to appear right in front of Cordelia. Her tongue darted out to lick across Eli's neck, "And I think I will start with this handsome man. It is the fate of all men who fall under our spell."

Anger coursed through Cordelia at the actions of the siren in front of her, "Don't you fucking touch him!" she shouted, trying to make a swipe for the woman.

Adonia only laughed as she jumped away from the punch, "These men will be all ours. I promise you that."

"And I'll kick your ass! I promise you that!"

"And how do you propose to do that while you are holding that man back?"

It was at that question that Devin appeared on the deck. He was surprised to see the scene he walked into, but quickly made his way over towards Cordelia.

"Talk about good timing," Cordelia said, looking right at Devin so he could read her lips, "I need you to hold him back, but do your best to not knock him out at the moment. If we can get him broken from the spell he's under, then he'll be a big help. Just make sure to keep him away from the edge, okay?"

Devin nodded at her and took her place in front of the man. Still being at his full strength, Devin was able to easily push the man back towards where Matilda and Sam stood.

Once things were in order, Cordelia called out her Twin Pistols, "Let's see what your butt ugly face can do!"

Adonia's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing in anger, "You will regret offending a queen with such language."

"You're nothing but a queen of cannibals!" Cordelia shouted before pulling her triggers.

Adonia dodged the two bullets coming at her and moved in quickly to make her own attack. She moved to thrust one sword forward to force Cordelia to the left. She then swung her other sword at her, the hook of the sword aimed to hit Cordelia right in side. Cordelia ducked down low, hearing the sword whoosh right over her head. She threw up her right hand, recalling her pistol for the moment, in order to grab onto the back of the woman's head. She brought down the siren's head to connect it with her knee. Adonia shouted out in pain from the attack, but didn't back away from Cordelia. Instead, she plunged one of the hooked ends of a sword into the shoulder that already had a wound in it from Desmond's sword.

"You better release me right now," Cordelia growled through the pain as she pressed her other pistol to the woman's head.

"You think I am scared of a little scrap of metal. I am queen for a reason! Royal Scream!"

Adonia pointed her head upwards and let out a scream that was louder than Ekho's had been. The volume of the scream continued to grow until it had Cordelia dropping her gun to cover her ears. The others on the front ship had dropped down to cover their ears, even Devin could hear it over his music, but he made to sure to keep Eli held back.

Cordelia shouted from the pain ringing through her head and the fact that the siren's second sword had been imbedded into her other shoulder. Adonia quickly shut her mouth, the scream disappearing with an echo as she used the hooked swords to lift up Cordelia into the air and flip her back down onto the deck. Once Cordelia was down on her back, she yanked the swords from her shoulders and slammed a foot onto her chest, knocking the air out of her.

"Do you see the difference in the two of us now?" Adonia asked, "I am a queen! And as queen, I will have what I want for my people and I. Let me show you what we will be taking before I smash you to death!" she said, extending her wings out fully. She flapped them once as hard as she could, the burst of air from them being strong enough to clear away the fog and reveal the entire guild.

Matilda and the others gasped at the scene before them while Cordelia felt her teeth gnash together and her fists clench so hard that her fingernails broke skin. She saw Nanami and Securus passed out with Nanami looking beat up. Her eyes moved towards all the other ships to see similar scenes. She saw Zipporah down and bleeding, a few other women looking the same way from the sirens that had landed on the deck. While her mages had managed to take out a good number of them, more kept coming…more kept attacking without mercy, leaving less and less mages to keep her men at bay. Cordelia felt pain and anger well up in her chest at the sight of her mages being hurt like this. She couldn't let it go on any longer, not while she was still alive and had the strength to fight for them.

"So as you can see, we will win and take over your guild. You really should have taken my earlier offer and left here alive without your men," Adonia said with a triumphant laugh.

"Leave without my men? Don't make me laugh," Cordelia said, her voice starting out low. Though, it quickly rose with every word she spoke, "I will never leave my men behind! I would rather die than leave them here with ugly sea witches like you! You think you're so tough because you have some damn wings and some shitty songs?! I'll show you what a real queen is like! I'll show you what kind of loyalty I hold!" she said, now shouting at the creature above her.

"You can show me all you want, but unless it is something that can kill me, then you have no chance."

"So all I have to do is kill you? Does that mean I will become your new queen?"

"It does, but no one has ever won a challenge against me! I am all powerful! I am queen!"

Cordelia started chuckling lowly before it was soon full blown laughter, "You really just challenged the wrong woman! All powerful?! With puny, curved swords like that and a scream that sounds like you're just throwing a tantrum? You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"Stop laughing you insolent little human!" Adonia shouted, stomping down on Cordelia over and over again. Things suddenly became quite and Adonia thought she had killed her for a moment, but Cordelia quickly proved her wrong.

"I'll show you that loyalty I was talking about earlier first, wench," Cordelia said, "Eli Nicholas Winchester! You sure as hell better fucking wake up already! I swear to God, if you don't get over here and melt off this witch's face in the next three seconds, I'll have you cleaning barnacles off all the ships for the next month!" she shouted. Her voice was louder than the singing still going on and it hit Eli full force as he stopped struggling against Devin. The others looked up at him in surprise, Devin taking a step back away from him. Cordelia's shout seemed to turn into a roar as she shouted his name again, "ELI! GET OVER HERE NOW!"

The glazed over look in his eyes vanished, his gold eyes coming back to life. He looked over to see a siren holding down Cordelia, the creature not seeming to pay attention to him. A dark look came over his face as his body ignited into flames. Red Fire covered him at first but it quickly faded into Green Fire. The small licks of green flame that dropped down from his skin melted through the wood like acid. He quickly began to walk towards the creature holding Cordelia down with full intentions of taking her out.

"Your voice will do nothing over my peoples' singing. That man is under my control!"

"You would like to think so," Cordelia smirked up at her, causing Adonia to quirk an eyebrow.

"Green Fire's Acid Fist!" Eli shouted as he slammed a green fist across the woman's face. It burned instantly, causing the woman to scream in response. She jumped away from Cordelia, holding her cheek that had been hit while continuing to scream over the melting affect it had. Eli dropped his fire for the moment to help Cordelia stand back up.

"My face! My beautiful face!" Adonia screeched, turning to look at the two mages. A hole had been burned through her cheek, blood dripping from the wound and everyone being able to see her teeth and tongue through the hole now, "What have you done to my face?!"

"That's only the beginning for touching my guild master," Eli said darkly, cracking his knuckles. He began to walk forward, but Cordelia stopped him.

"Now that I have shown you my loyalty, I'll go ahead and take your title from you," Cordelia said with a smirk, "Murdock Family Gun Wall!" she shouted. This called forth gun after gun from her collection, ranging from small pistols to machine guns to shotguns to much large rifles and gatling guns. They were all called forth and spread out around Cordelia.

Adonia stared at the wall of guns in fear and she threw her wings out in an attempt to fly away from the woman.

"Not fast enough!" Cordelia called out, "Shoot her down!"

With that shout, the guns went off. Metallic echoes filled the air as all bullets were aimed for the siren. Adonia had managed to lift off the ground, but she didn't get very far as the first bullets hit her. They caught her wings first, taking away her ability of flight and bringing her back down towards the deck. The next bullets hit her arms and legs, forcing her to drop her weapons and keeping her from getting back up. The next wave of bullets hit her in the torso, ensuring her nearing demise. Her body finally hit the deck again with a circle of blood appearing all around her. Cordelia picked up the pistol that had been forced from her hand earlier and walked over towards the siren.

Cordelia stared down at the woman covered in blood, feeling nothing but anger for her for what she had done to her guild. She cocked the pistol before pointing it right at the woman's head, causing Adonia's eyes to widen even more in fear, "I'm the fucking queen now," she said before pulling the trigger.

Adonia's life was snuffed out with that last shot, which caused an exchange of power to happen. Light rose out from Adonia's body and surrounded Cordelia, the light eventually burning a marking into Cordelia's left forearm of siren wings. The marking stayed lit up as Cordelia turned away from the dead woman. She began walking towards the middle vessel where most of the fighting was going on. Matilda tried to reach out for her to make sure she was all right, but Sam pulled her back, shaking his head at her.

Cordelia made it to the middle vessel without any problems and looked up at all the fighting that was still going on. She breathed in before letting out a deafening command of, "Enough!" This halted all fighting and had all the men stopping in their movements towards the edge of the ship, "I am the queen of the sirens now! What I say will be followed without question, got it?"

The sirens stepped away from the mages, their wings drooping down as they bowed towards Cordelia.

"The idiots that belong to me, wake up!"

At her command, the spell on the men was broken. Their eyes cleared up and they looked around, trying to figure out what happened.

"Now, one of you sea witches better show me where the hell a frozen statue is at or else you'll end up like your dead queen!"

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Our question today comes from IdentityCrisis.03 for Hagi:

**Which Costume Re-Quip is your favorite?**

**Hagi: **That's such a hard question! I really love them all! And you haven't even seen all of them yet!

**Mia: **Well, you need to pick one, Hagi. Saying you love all of them is kind of cheating your way out of the answer.

**Hagi: **Hmm, I do quite enjoy the Butler costume. It comes in handy whenever I'm cleaning and do love doing housework.

**Watson: **Then I need you to come to my place and tidy up. I've been way too lazy recently. Just a light dusting will do.

**Hagi: **You'd use your own characters?!

**Watson: **Hell yeah I would, especially when you have some killer cleaning abilities.

**Mia: **I still don't think that's your favorite one.

**Hagi: **You're probably right. I think right now I've been favoring my Stylist costume. I just love dressing people up! *eyes Watson before capturing her and styles her in new clothes*

**Watson: ***stares flatly at Hagi* I hate your Stylist costume.

**Hagi &amp; Mia: **But you look so cute!

**Watson: **Just give me my jeans and t-shirt back! I really need a break from interviewing the two of you. And this is only the second question corner!

**Hagi: **Then let me match-make properly on the guild already!

**Watson: **You already cause enough problems as it is! The interview is finished for today!

**Hagi &amp; Mia: **Awww, already?

**Watson: **Yeah, unless you care to share your crush with us this time? *watches as Mia takes off, pulling Hagi with her* Well, that's all for today! See you all again next Sunday!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

This chapter was just…it just got me really pumped up! All those action scenes! It was so much fun and I just loved writing them all! So I hope you all enjoyed them!

I also think the new song I got helped a lot with this chapter. I swear, I've been obsessing over it (aka listening to it nonstop for two days now). But 'Let Me Hear' by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas is what definitely inspired this chapter for me. It's actually the opening song for Parasyte, so you should all check it out if you haven't heard it yet.

And now we're almost on our way to the third clue! And that clue has mostly been figured out, so like where it'll happen and what they have to do to get to the next clue, so I'm pretty excited for that!

And holy crap! 300 reviews! I can't believe we've already hit that! I know I keep saying this, and I'll continue to say it especially any time we hit another hundred reviews, but you guys are just completely awesome! Seriously, this last batch of reviews and PMs were just amazing and they all made me smile! I hope you all continue to enjoy the story as much as I do!

So we'll jump right into those reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**reven228 - **You were the 300th review! CHA! And I was hoping you would notice some things in the last chapter, so I'm glad you picked up on what I'm think you picked up on, lol. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**AkumaXHwaorang - **Haha, I want to do flashbacks with as many characters as I can so everyone can see what happened to them and how they joined the guild, but Gamu is one I really want to make sure I do, so I'm sure you'll see it in the future. I'm glad you like the question corner! And yeah, Gamu was the first one! I didn't mean to make Mia cry either! Glad you liked the fight scenes too. Yeah, I could see Tazz and Micky getting along if they weren't enemies. And I'm glad you liked that scene with Eli and Cordelia, but of course it had to be interrupted by Ace! And I hope you liked the sirens in the chapter! I liked your idea of Gamu falling in and out of being hypnotized, so I used it in this chapter. It was too funny to picture to pass up! And your question will be answered in the near future! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Haha! I'm glad you liked that fluff scene between Cordelia and Eli. And yes! I had to have Ace ruin it! It can't be that easy or soon, can it? But I'm glad you liked the action too! I hope you liked the action in this chapter too along with the sirens!

**DarkHyena - **Yep, Micky got left there on that island. But she'll eventually be found or make her way back to the ship on her own! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the action scenes too! Eli really was so close, lol! And originally Devin was going to be part of the men that were hypnotized, but then you mentioned his headphones in your review and I was like, well, that's gotta happen now, lol. So he lucked out! And we'll have to wait and see about that crush. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **The sirens have appeared! More to come on what happened with Lance and Chris though next chapter. I haven't forgotten about them! And I'm not sure if he would have cauterized someone yet or not. But it would definitely have been painful if he had. Yeah, Desmond really isn't a villain. He's just following order and he has a stuck up attitude, but really means to be a protector of justice and all that jazz. And those sirens were pretty tough this chapter. I think it actually turned out way more intense than I had originally thought it would be. And yeah, lol, that question corner! It just kinda took control of itself and I was dragged along for the ride, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **I hope the sirens turned out like you had hoped for this chapter! And yeah, things really are winding up for the guild! Just wait until we get into the other islands! And the Western Captains and Vice Admiral are actually all from different places…I believe they are anyways…across Fiore. But the west happened to be the palce they were stationed in. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **Haha! Well I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter so much! Tazz is so much fun to use in and out of combat, but her magic is really interesting! It's so cool to use in fights! But yeah, I also think that Tazz and Micky could be friends if things had been different. And I'm sure that bopping on the head will become a habit of Tazz's. It fits her character well, lol! And of course Ace had to interrupt that moment! And we'll find out what happens with Micky soon. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And the sirens make their appearance this chapter! I had a lot of fun with that! Haha, and there are ten ships total in the guild. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Yeah, Tazz definitely did a number on Micky and then still had the energy to stop Rio. That ship though…But we'll find out more on Micky soon for when she gets back with her crew! I'm glad to hear the Desmond turned out the way you pictured! But yeah, he lucked out with having Kira there. He would have freaked out even more if his uniform got messed up, lol. Muwhahahahaha! That CordeliaXEli moment! I had to have ace ruin it, lol! And I'm glad to hear that you're liking the question corner! Thanks for your question and it will be answered in the near future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Cat the Alien - **:3 Glad you really enjoyed that last chapter! I always worry about those emotional scenes being too cliché or not, so its always good to hear that you all like them and that they're turning out well. And I'm glad you're liking Matilda and Sam along with Kasra and Ingrid. They're really all so much fun to write separately or in their pairs there. Haha, those cliffhangers are just so convenient though. And thank you for your question! It'll be answered in the near future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**mrady - **Happy to hear how much you look forward to updates! And I hope you enjoyed this update too!

**Momochan77 - **Yep! You got the first question! So thanks again for it! Tazz can definitely kick some definite butt! And yeah…Ace with that timing, lol! And thanks for the new question! It'll be answered in the near future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Yeah, I agree. Tazz's magic can be frightening because of all the internal damage it does and the fact that it can scan for old wounds and whatnot. But it's just so awesome to use in battles! I absolutely love it! Yeah, I've always like mythology stuff too, so being able to have sirens in here was great. The mermaids too, but the sirens were obviously the bigger threat here. Haha! That sabertooth tiger. Honestly, it's appearance came from my reading a One Piece fanfiction called Race for One Piece and the main character in it has the ability to turn into a sabertooth tiger, so that's where it originated from. Plus, there's a guild called Sabertooth, so I thought, why the hell not? So I'm glad to hear you liked it. Yeah, Bern was definitely the one to get Desmond to attack since those were his orders. Although, he didn't have to go so far and could have easily stopped when Kira did too. But I'm glad that you liked Kasra's magic! It's pretty cool and I still have other forms for him too! Yeah, Eli definitely still has some things to learn. He felt he was on the same level as Cordelia for a long time, so to see her in this leadership role is kinda hard for him. But he'll have to get over that quick…not that he'll make it an easy thing to do. Haha, that Seth and Zinnia detective picture is now stuck in my head! I totally did show you a moment and then smashed it! I'm curious to see how you get even for that one, lol! But I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the question corner too. I didn't think I would get myself involved in it, but then it just sorta happened, lol. And Cordelia has pieces of me in her personality, like the excitable and childish parts of her behavior. And that cursing too…So it was a little weird to go back and forth like that with her, lol, but it seemed to turn out well. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Ace totally threw off the groove, haha! But I'm glad you liked the last chapter and the fights that came along with it! And I'm glad you liked the idea of sirens! I had a lot of fun with that! That recording of Gajeel probably would actually work, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Yeah, Tazz's magic is pretty beastly when you think about it. And we'll find out what happened to Lance and Chris soon! But yeah, Rio got lucky with Tazz knocking him out. Glad you liked that fight between Kasra and Desmond. And yeah, Ace totally ruined that moment! The guild really has been through a lot on this island. I want to hope that they'll catch a break soon, but it's doubtful right now since they're right in the middle of the treasure hunt. But we got to see how they dealt with those sirens this chapter! So I hope you enjoyed it!

**Dreadburner94 - **Like we talked about before, it really is procrastination at its finest. Reviewing the day of the next update, lol. You're lucky I tend to update late. And Eli has some things he still needs to learn and work through. He had always felt that he was on the same level as Cordelia for a long time, that it's hard for him to transition over to her being the guild master. We'll see more of that come about in the future and how he deals with it. But yeah, if Eli isn't careful then Isaak just might…well anyways! Haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	22. Dark Water

**A/N: **YAS! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 22: Dark Water**

**April 11, X792 - Midday**

A siren stepped forward at Cordelia's command. The creatures green eyes could only look at Cordelia's fierce blue ones for a few seconds before she had to look away, "You came here because of a map, correct?"

"Correct."

"Then I will take you to the statue you seek. Bring something to break it though."

Cordelia turned back to face her guild, "Drop anchors here! And someone bring me a bat or a crowbar or something!"

"Will this work?" Alisa asked, handing over one of her lead pipes.

"Perfect. Thank you," she said as she turned back towards the siren that had stepped up to her, "Adonia was able to clear out this fog. Can you all do that while we're walking to this statue?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Then do it. I'm not taking any chances of something sneaking up on me."

The siren gave out the orders to the others and soon the fog had lifted from the area while they constantly moved their wings back and forth, "Will you follow me now?"

"One other thing first," Cordelia said as she turned to look back towards the front ship, "Devin! Matilda! You're coming with me! Move it!"

The group from the front ship moved to the middle ship at Cordelia's below, Devin now having his headphones hanging around his neck.

Eli was the first to approach her, "I'm coming with you too."

"No, I need you to stay here. If any of these creatures start acting up, I want you to put them in their place. Blow them away in a torrent of fire if you need to."

Eli looked as if he wanted to argue with her for a moment, but he seemed to know better than to try to go against her, "Yeah, all right. Just make sure you're not gone for too long."

She simply nodded at him before looking back at the siren, "Let's go. We'll make a quick stop at our infirmary though. There's something I need to pick up."

The group of four made their way across the bridges and stopped at the infirmary, surprised to see Jack and Zhuue standing outside waiting for them.

"Jack?" Cordelia said.

"Been hearing what's been going on since I was snapped out of the trance," Jack answered, holding out a syringe to her that was filled with a dark purple liquid, "I figured you might need this."

Cordelia gave him a knowing smirk, "Thanks. You always seem to know what I need before I get here."

He returned her smile, "Just remember that it only lasts an hour. I'm still working on the batch that will last six hours."

"An hour should be more than enough," Cordelia said just as she stuck the needle into her leg and injected the liquid, "I'm still amazed that you were able to come up with something to cure my land sickness," she said as she handed him back the syringe.

"I'm simply doing my job," he said, "Now get going. Your time is already ticking down, but you better make sure to get back to the infirmary when all of this is finished."

"Yes sir," she said with a smirk before she began walking towards the edge of the ship. She looked over at the two mages she had brought with her. She had chosen Devin for the back up strength he brought with him while she had chosen Matilda since the woman knew her way around the island due to her maps. If the siren in front of them led them the wrong way, Matilda would know.

"How are we supposed to get over to the other side?" Devin asked as they reached the edge of the ship.

"I will carry you over," the siren answered, fanning out her wings to their full extent.

Devin made a face at the thought of the creature touching him, especially after what they had just done to their guild. He quickly switched over to his Angela form, spreading out his own wings, "I'll carry myself over."

"Take Matilda with you," Cordelia said, not wanting to take the chance of the siren doing anything to her navigator. Devin nodded at her and picked Matilda up before he flew over to the island. Cordelia turned to face the brunette woman next to her, "You seem to be rather obedient compared to many of your other counterparts."

"Not all of us are like Adonia," she answered, "Do not misunderstand, I am still a deadly creature, but I am not an idiot or a mindless eating machine."

"I see. What is your name?"

"Rhouth. I was the Second General to Adonia."

"Well Rhouth, I think I'm gonna like you, so long as you don't eat any of my men."

"I think that is something I can do, my lady,' she said with slight bow.

"Ah, you can just call me Cordelia," she answered with a smile.

"But you are the queen now, my lady."

Cordelia sighed, "Yeah, I guess I did say that. Well, let's get going, Rhouth."

Rhouth lifted Cordelia up and carried her over to the island. Devin and Matilda watched as Cordelia touched ground, almost expecting her to fall on her face in sickness, but that moment never came.

"Jack must be really good at what he does!" Matilda said.

"Aye, he is," Cordelia said with a smile, "Now then, show the way," she said, looking over at the siren.

Rhouth nodded in reply and began moving across the island, following along the outskirts of the dip that created the cove. They came to center of the curve and were just about to turn to walk in a straight path away from it when Cordelia noticed two figured teetering on the edge of the small cliff around the cove.

"Lance! Chris! What are you two idiots doing?!" she shouted at them.

The two men seemed to break away from the trance they were in when they heard Cordelia's voice. They stumbled backwards with a surprised look in their eyes.

"What the hell? How did we get here?" Chris asked.

"Looks like they got caught up in the siren's song too," Devin said.

"Oi! Where are Tazz and Rio at?" Cordelia said.

The two men looked around them to see that they were the only ones from their team in the area.

"The last thing I remember is being chased by that tiger and then we got separated," Lance said.

"Well, go find the other two and get them back onto the guild. You did take out that pirate, right?" Cordelia asked.

"Yeah, mostly thanks to Tazz," Chris said, "Micky should still be on the island too."

"Good. I want to bring her back onto the guild, so we'll handle finding her. Just worry about the other two for now."

"Aye!" the two men said before taking back off the way they had come.

Once the two had left to find the other half of their team, Rhouth continued leading the other three down the path that led to the statue, "Now, this statue probably is not what you are expecting it to look like," Rhouth explained, "So do not be surprised by its appearance. It was placed here by Blackstroker himself, so it was not a design of our choosing."

Cordelia and the others could hear disappointment in her voice, so it made them wonder what this statue exactly was. The clue had said it was a frozen beauty, so Cordelia had assumed that it would look like a siren or a mermaid, but now Rhouth made it sound like that assumption would be wrong. The trio didn't have to wait too much longer to find out what the statue was when they came to a small clearing. Right in the middle of the clearing was a life sized statue made out of white marble that was covered in leaves and vines from the many years it had been standing there. Cordelia, Matilda and Devin could only stare at the statue with either flat looks or sweat drops falling down their heads.

"Seriously?" Cordelia said, being the one to wear a flat stare.

"I did say the design was not of our choosing," Rhouth said.

"That old man must be vain as hell…calling himself a frozen beauty," Cordelia said, still staring at the marble statue of who she assumed was William Blackstroker, considering the name that was inscribed at the bottom of the statue. He stood with a sword in one hand while he had one leg posed on top of a barrel, the man wearing a wide grin from underneath a curled mustache. Cordelia only felt her eye twitch in annoyance at the stupid grin carved into his face. Blackstroker probably knew the kind of trouble they would have to go through just to get to the statue, "If I ever meet this guy, I'm giving him a good punch to the face."

"It really is an eyesore," Rhouth said with her own flat look from beside Cordelia, "So you can go ahead and smash it when you are ready, my lady."

"Don't mind if I do."

"Just make sure you do not smash what is inside of the statue. Blackstroker made sure it was hollow on the inside to hide what you need for the map. It is a small jar that should be at the bottom of it."

"Then that means I can still smash that stupid grin of his," Cordelia said with a dark smirk as she approached the statue, "If you're watching Blackstroker, I hope you know the trouble you're having me and my guild go through for your treasure! It sure as hell better be worth it when we're finished!"

With that, Cordelia swung the lead pipe as hard as she could through the head of the statue, white chunks of marble exploding outwards from the force of the hit. She continued demolishing the statue with hit after it until there was nothing left but the stump of one foot and the bottom of the barrel. White dust rose up around her from the destroyed marble and through it, Cordelia could see the jar that Rhouth had spoken of. It was just a small mason jar, but it appeared as if the metal lid had been melted onto the jar as if to keep whatever was in it from getting out. Cordelia arched an eyebrow at the sight of it before picking up the small object. She brought it to eye level to see it was only a fourth of the way full of a thick, black liquid.

"What is it?" Devin asked, having moved towards the statue with Matilda.

"Is it squid ink or tar or poison or something Blackstroker created himself?" Matilda rattled off quickly.

Cordelia turned the jar around in her hands a few times, feeling as if she had seen the substance before, which sent a feeling of terror up through her spine. That feeling of terror shot out through the rest of her body when the liquid moved and slammed up against the glass jar. Cordelia gasped and threw the jar up as she jumped away from it. Devin managed to catch it before it fell and smashed across the ground. He looked over to see that Cordelia had gone white as a ghost and her eyes were wide with fear.

"Cordelia?" he asked, "Are you all right?"

"How…how did Blackstroker get that? Why did he use it? What was he thinking?!" Cordelia said, her voice rising with each question, "I can't bring that onto the guild! I won't!"

"Cordelia?" Matilda said, feeling very worried for her master. She hadn't seen fear like that on the woman before.

Cordelia squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to chase away the memories from her mind, "I won't bring it on the guild! I can't risk it!"

"But Cordelia, we need it for the clue, right? We have to bring it with us," Devin said, "Do you know what this stuff is? What's the problem with it?"

"The map isn't worth bringing it onto my guild!"

Matilda and Devin exchanged glances, unsure of what was going on.

"We can always bring the map out onto the island if you don't want to bring this stuff onto the guild," Matilda suggested.

"It doesn't matter! If we open the jar, it'll find a way onto the ship! It'll find a way to Eli!"

"Eli?" Devin questioned, looking between the black liquid and his guild master, "Cordelia, what is this stuff exactly?"

"Dark Water."

A heaviness seemed to fill the air at those words, as if the island itself felt terrified by the substance in the jar. Rhouth had even taken a few steps back from the area, looking just as frightened as Cordelia.

"If…if we had known that is what Blackstroker left here, we would have gotten rid of it long ago," Rhouth said.

"Dark Water?" Devin said, "Never heard of it. What's so bad about it?"

"It is also known as the Heretic's Water," Rhouth explained, "It is a cursed water that even the gods will not touch."

"So what does it have to do with Eli?" Devin continued, looking over at Cordelia now. Though, he received no answer from her, causing him to sigh, "Okay, look. We just fought all those sirens and the bandits back on Nube and the Black Skulls. If you suddenly stop the treasure hunt now, everyone back at the guild will be upset. We have to bring this back with us."

"I don't want it on my guild! I will not bring it back!"

Devin shoved the jar into Matilda's hands before walking over to stand in front of Cordelia, "That's enough! You're the guild master of Storm's Helm, remember? You're seriously going to let that tiny bit of black water stop you from setting out what you promised to do?! What about the guild?! How are you going to keep everyone fed and taken care of if you stop the hunt?! You just killed the queen of the sirens without flinching! What happened to that woman?!"

Cordelia went quiet at Devin's words, knowing he was right. Though, that didn't help subside the fear she felt when she looked back over at the jar, "Why did it have to be Dark Water?" she whispered.

"Blackstroker doesn't seem to be the type to make things easy," Devin said, "He seems to be the type to make you work every step of the way, so this will just be another hurdle we have to step over. If you took on sirens and Bern, you can handle this."

She looked up at him, seeing the reassurance in his gray eyes through his mask. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and nodded at him. She looked back over at the jar that Matilda held, walking over to take it. She reached out with a shaking hand, pulling it back quickly when the substance jumped out at her again.

"If it bothers you that much, we can carry it back," Devin said.

"No, I don't want that stuff involved with any more people than it already is. I'll take it back myself," Cordelia said, trying to sound as confident as possible as she reached out for the jar again. The black water began reacting as soon as her hand wrapped around the glass, as if it knew who she was. That made another shiver run up her spine, but she ignored the red flags going off in her head as she fully took the jar into her possession. She shoved the jar into an inside pocket of her coat so she wouldn't have to look at it any longer, "All right," she said, her voice still sounding slightly off, "We still need to find Micky and then get away from this island."

The other three nodded at her and began to follow her in the direction that Lance and Chris had run off in.

**. : + : .**

Lance and Chris had managed to find Tazz and Rio and make their way back to the guild just as Cordelia and the others made their way back onto the guild with a still unconscious Micky and Tazz's bike, the bike being carried by Rhouth. Cordelia quickly made her way over to the group to check up on them.

"What happened to Rio?" she asked, seeing that the young man was still unconscious.

"I had to knock him out when the singing started," Tazz answered.

Cordelia looked over at her to see the wound on her stomach. She frowned at it for a moment before a proud smile appeared on her lips, "You fought well, Tazz. Thank you."

"No problem!" she answered with her own smile. She then peered behind Cordelia to see her bike on the deck, "Betty!"

Cordelia placed a hand on her shoulder before she went off running towards the bike, "You need to go see Jack first. I don't want your wound getting any worse."

Tazz was about to argue with her when Chris appeared in front of her, "She's right. Even if Rio was able to heal it some, Jack still needs to look at it and finish taking care of it. Rio will be mad if he finds out that you went and made things worse after he went and healed it for you."

"Tch, like I care," she mumbled, "But fine! Let's go see Jack!"

Cordelia nodded in thanks towards Chris as he helped Tazz towards the ship that the infirmary was on. Cordelia then turned towards Rhouth, "Thank you for your help."

"Of course, my lady. Will you be staying here with us now? You are our queen."

"I can't do that. I have a guild to look after. I am their master first," she answered as she looked down at the new mark on her arm, "But the selfish part of me can't really just give up this power to control sirens. Seems like that'd be pretty handy in the future," she said with a laugh.

"Well, we obviously cannot follow you. This is our home and not all of us can control ourselves around your men."

"I understand. So how about this," Cordelia said, "You all stay here and I will go my own way. I'll still be your queen, but in the mean time while I'm gone, why don't you be in charge of things."

"Me? But my lady, that is a rather large responsibility and honor."

"Well you seem to have a pretty good head on your shoulders, so I think I can trust you to keep everyone in order. I know you eat…uh…meat, but let's try sticking to animals on the island and any nasty sailors that might pass by here."

"I suppose that is something I can work on for you, my lady."

"It would be appreciated," Cordelia said before a dark look appeared on her face, "But if I find out that any of your sisters have wounded or killed any of my mages, I'll come back here with an army. You might be a dangerous creature, but I promise that I'm plenty more dangerous. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my lady," Rhouth said with a bow.

"Good, just make sure to look out for this symbol on them," she said, pointing to her green guild mark, earning a nod from the siren, "All right then, this is where we'll take our leave. I'll be back eventually to check in on you all, so don't do anything stupid."

"You have my word," Rhouth said. She was just about to fly off the ship to meet up with the rest of her sisters when she stopped to look back at Cordelia, "My lady…please be careful with that Dark Water. Even the smallest amounts can cause the largest of catastrophes. I would hate to hear that is what brought your demise."

A serious look crossed Cordelia's face, "I know what that water can do. I will take the proper precautions," she said before another smile appeared, "Besides, it'll take more than some stupid water to take me out!"

Rhouth smiled softly in response, "I am glad to hear that, my lady. Please take care."

With that, the siren flew away from the ship. Cordelia could feel the anchors rising and Matilda guiding the ship away from the foggy island. Cordelia continued to stand in the same spot, watching as the island slowly faded away. But even as the island disappeared from view and the fog started to lift, the anxiety that filled Cordelia stayed within her. She could feel the jar in her pocket weighing heavily on her and she found herself wishing that she hadn't brought the jar onto the guild.

"Cordelia," Devin said as he came to stand next to her, "What do you want to do with Micky?"

"Clean her up and put her in handcuffs," she said, "And use the magic suppressing ones. I don't need her using her magic on the guild again."

"Is she going to be staying with us then?"

"For a short time, yes. Her crew will eventually appear to get her. If Madmartigan wants her, he'll need to come aboard the guild to get her."

"So you're hoping to use her as bait?"

"Exactly. I have some things I want to discuss with that man," she said, finally looking over at Devin to see the worried look in his eyes, "Don't worry. I won't be starting any fights with him. Still, I want everyone on high alert. Make sure to let everyone know that."

"Yes ma'am."

She turned to leave to head towards the front ship, but stopped to place a hand on his shoulder, "Thank you," was all she said before continuing on her walk. Though, Devin knew that her thanks wasn't just for following her orders. He was really beginning to wonder why the Dark Water had her so frightened and what it all had to do with Eli.

**. : + : .**

"Ow!" Cordelia yelped as Jack none too gently stuck her with another syringe in her shoulder, "You could be a bit more gentle, ya know!"

"Maybe I would be if you had come to the infirmary like you were supposed to," Jack answered as he pulled out the syringe and replaced it with a new one to stick into her other shoulder, "Instead, you make me come all the way to your office to take care of you. Do you even know what my infirmary looks like right now? I had to leave Zhuue there to take care of the other women who got hurt in this last fight."

Cordelia pouted at his words, "I'm sorry. I didn't know that it would turn into a fight like that with the sirens."

Jack sighed, feeling a little guilty by the look on her face, "Well, it's not like it's your fault that they ended up that way. They were simply doing the same as you and protecting their guild, so don't you go thinking their wounds are all your fault."

Cordelia was quiet for a moment as she watched Jack put away the needles and began pulling out the supplies needed to wrap her shoulders while the liquid he injected her with did its job with healing her, "How are Tazz, Nanami and Zipporah? They looked the most worn out."

"They'll be fine after some well earned rest. They're all tough girls."

"That's good to hear."

Jack began to wrap up her shoulders in white gauze after that. He could hear the exhaustion in her voice, but he had also heard the hint of fear in it. He could only guess it was from the mason jar that sat in the middle of her desk. She had been staring at it the entire time he had been in the room and it was really making him wonder what the substance in the jar was. Though, before he could wonder further on the subject, the door to the office was opened. The pair looked up to see Finn standing in the doorway. The older man looked at Cordelia for a moment before his gaze moved towards the jar on her desk. His eyes narrowed at it before he closed and locked the door behind him.

"So Devin was right," Finn said as he took a seat across from Cordelia.

"He told you?"

"He mentioned that he was worried. He told me about the Dark Water you found and how you reacted to it. I wasn't sure if it could be true. Dark Water isn't something that's easily captured like this," he said, looking at the jar, "Are you okay with having it on the guild?"

"Of course not," Cordelia said lowly, "But I need it to unlock the next clue apparently. How I'm supposed to drop it onto the map though, I have no fucking idea. I want to figure it out as soon as possible and then get this shit off the guild. The longer it's on the guild, the more likely Eli will find out about it or it will find a way to him. I don't want that happening," she said as she tightly grabbed onto the sides of her chair.

"Don't do that," Jack said, knocking her on the side of the head with his knuckles, "You tense up like that and I can't wrap your shoulders properly and you're only bound to make them start bleeding again if you do that."

"Sorry," Cordelia grumbled as she forced herself to relax.

Finn looked back at the doctor fixing up his daughter, a smirk appearing on his lips, "Well, you have your answer right behind you."

"Huh?"

"You have a doctor under your command that can literally make miracles happen. I'm sure that he can help you out with coming up with a way to extract a drop of the Dark Water to put onto the map. And how to expose of it possibly," Finn explained, looking back at Jack again, "You think that's something you can figure out?"

Jack looked at Finn for a moment before he looked down at the jar, "I suppose it's not the hardest thing that's ever been asked of me. I can figure something out."

"Don't be breaking it out of the jar all willy-nilly," Cordelia said quickly, "I don't want that stuff moving on its own on the guild. And it will if given the chance."

"What is it exactly?"

"It's a curse," Cordelia answered lowly.

"It's called Dark Water," Finn said, "It can wrap around a person and force them down into the water. It has drowned countless people over the years, so I ask that you use caution when working with it."

"I understand. I'll figure something out for you as quickly as I can. I'll keep this project to myself as well as it seems you don't want people knowing its on the guild."

"That would be helpful. Thank you," Cordelia said.

"Of course," he said as he finished wrapping up her shoulders, "There we are. You should be good to go for now. Just don't make any quick movements for a little while."

Before Cordelia could give her thanks to him again, rattling came from the office door.

"Oi!" Ace called out, "Why is the door locked?! Open up, Cordi!"

Jack grabbed the sealed jar before Cordelia could and placed it with his other supplies to take back with him to the infirmary. Once it was hidden away, Finn moved to unlock the door. Ace ran in as soon as Finn opened it for him.

The sword mage looked around at the three in the office, trying to figure out what had been going on. Though, he quickly shook his head as he remembered why he had come to the office to begin with, "You need to come to the surface now. The Black Skulls are here."

"That was much quicker than I expected," Cordelia said as she stood up.

"Remember what I said!" Jack called out, "No quick movements!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," she said with a wave of her hand. She quickly followed her brother out the door, leaving behind the other two men without another word. The pair made it to the top deck of the front ship to see the large black ship belonging to Madmartigan right next to it, said man standing at the center of his crew to stare down Cordelia. She could feel movement behind her, her own mages moving in to back her up if she needed it. Devin was on the front deck already with a now awake Micky standing next to him. Cordelia felt her lips twitch up into a smirk, "Madmartigan! It's so nice of you to make a visit to our humble abode!"

"Give me back my mechanic!" he shouted, getting right to the point of his appearance.

"I suppose we do have something you want back," Cordelia said, looking over at Micky, "I hope you know how much trouble you've been causing us by sending your men after the map."

"That map was mine to begin with, so I want it back as well."

"I don't think you're really in any position to be demanding things right now. Not only has your mechanic wounded my mages, your sharpshooter has too. I don't really see any reason for me to listen to any demands you have. Really, I should be handing Micky over to the Navy, but you see, I'm not on the greatest of terms with the Western Forces right now. Once again, that's all thanks to you," she explained, her smirk growing, "So I can always wait until we hit southern waters and hand her over then."

Madmartigan's crew began to shout in protest, but he quickly silenced them by lifting up his hand, "You're a rather haughty little girl," he said, "Thinking you have control of the situation. You sound just like _him_."

"Him? Him who?"

"Duke Ramirez."

Cordelia's eyes went wide at hearing the name, "How do you know Duke?"

"You're the master of that guild yet you know nothing!" Madmartigan said, almost laughing at the mere thought of it all, "I hope you know that Duke isn't as nice as he seems. He was the one who took my hand after all," he explained, holding out the silver hook attached to his arm, "But you sound just like he used to. So arrogant and sure of himself! If you're not careful, little girl, you'll lose something even greater than a hand like he did!"

Cordelia's brow furrowed as she stared the man down, "What did you do to Duke?!"

"Maybe you should ask that himself. It's not my place to tell you about your own guild history. Your old man knows about it too, so I'm honestly surprised that you don't. Maybe they don't trust you as much as you thought."

"You better shut your mouth! You don't know Duke or my father! You're just telling lies to get what you want!"

"You can believe what you want," Madmartigan said with a shrug, "But the truth is on the guild. You just have to look hard enough for it. Now, I don't really want to have to deal with you or your guild any longer than I have to, so just hand over my mechanic and the map and we'll be on our way."

"I'm not handing anything over to you!"

"Look, you went and pissed the lovely lady off," Mingo said, stepping up to cut Madmartigan off before he said anything else, "I must apologize on behalf of my Captain. I'm his first mate, Domingo Barton, but you can just call me Mingo," he said, with a small bow and a wink.

Cordelia only gave him a harsh stare in response.

"Wow, I usually get at least a blush with that introduction," Mingo said with a nervous laugh, "Anyways, I would greatly appreciate it if you would give us back Micky. She was simply following orders."

"And she got caught. That's her own fault. She even stabbed one of my mages!"

"And you have every right to be angry over that, but she is a part of our crew. You must understand what it's like to have part of your family taken from you," Mingo said, hoping to reach out emotionally towards the woman, "So if you would be so kind as to hand her back over, I would owe you one."

Cordelia contemplated his request, looking over at Micky. She eventually gave in with a sigh, "Hand her over."

"What?! But Cordelia! She-" Ace began.

"I know what she did!" she snapped, effectively cutting him off, "But that is her crew and her superior is dropping his pride to have her back. I can't deny him his family."

Devin nodded at her and threw Micky over to the black ship with the cuffs still on her.

"Thank you," Mingo said with a smile.

"I hope you know the only reason you got her back was because your first mate is a decent man," Cordelia said, looking over at Madmartigan, "You should get more like him for your mangy crew."

"You should stick to taking care of your own crew," Madmartigan huffed, "Now hand over the map!"

"Like hell you're getting the map."

"Little girls should listen to the demands of someone who's stronger than them," Madmartigan said as he pulled out a gun to point at her.

"And men shouldn't be so stupid as to think their enemy is weak," Cordelia answered by calling for a gun of her own to aim at him, "Be grateful you got your mechanic back and piss off!"

"You'd take on an enemy without knowing what they could do?"

"You're doing the same and I guarantee I have more men behind me than you do. And the Navy is nearby, I'm sure. I also have the ability to call out sirens right now. You feel like having your men eaten today?"

"Captain," Mingo said, "I don't think this is the right time for a show down. We've got Micky back. Be happy with that for now."

Madmartigan weighed his options, keeping his gun pointed at Cordelia, "We'll keep hunting you down. The map and the treasure are mine!"

"Go ahead and send your men out. We'll keep sending them back beaten and bloody," Cordelia warned, "And I'll tell you this, you keep hurting my mages like you've been doing and I'll hunt you down and kill you myself. I have no qualms about that, I assure you."

"So you'll finish what Duke started?" Madmartigan asked, beginning to laugh loudly, "You're so much like him that I'm starting to think that you're really his daughter instead of Finn's. I'll be looking forward to the day that you'll come hunting me down. I'll be waiting for you then, little girl!"

"Just you remember that it will be a Murdock that takes you out, Madmartigan! Duke may be a part of my family, but it is Murdock blood that runs through me! Enjoy your time while you're still alive!"

"And you do the same, little girl!" he answered, "Move out!"

The black ship sailed off from the guild, the mages still being able to hear Madmartigan laughing as they disappeared.

Once they were fare enough away from the guild, Cordelia let out a relieved sigh and recalled her gun before dropping to the deck, "I'm so tired!"

Ace looked down at her, "What do you think the history with Duke and Madmartigan is?"

"I don't know. I'll figure it out later. I'm totally burned out for the day," she answered, letting out another sigh, "Now take your sister to the middle ship for a drink."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! You owe me for acting like a moron and being entranced by sirens! And I'm too tired to move anymore! I'm not supposed to make quick movements! Doctor's orders!"

"Then what was that with pulling out a gun on Madmartigan?!"

"Doctor's orders!" she shouted, completely ignoring his question.

"Fine, whatever!" Ace said as he picked up one of her legs and began dragging her across the deck.

"So mean! You won't even pick me up like a proper gentleman!" she cried.

"If you want a gentleman then call one of your bodyguards!"

"This is why you don't have a girlfriend!"

"And you don't have a boyfriend!"

Devin felt a sweat drop run down the side of his head at their antics as he closely followed them to the middle ship, feeling like he needed a drink himself after the day they all had.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from PlaguedAmbition for Nanami:

**You seem to spend a lot of time with Securus. Why is that?**

**Nanami: **If you're insinuating that I like him, you are quite wrong.

**Securus: **Well damn. Just shoot me through the heart why don't you.

**Nanami: **I'm just being honest.

**Securus: **Oi! Watson! What are you gonna do to fix this?

**Nanami: **There is nothing that needs to be fixed!

**Watson: **Why are you dragging me into the middle of this?! She answered the question! Sorry if you didn't like the answer!

**Securus: **You're the writer. You can do whatever you want. You've been making it so she's been giving me all this attitude lately!

**Watson: **She did just save you…

**Nanami: **Maybe I should have let you fall into the pit of mermaids.

**Securus: **Weren't you the one that said you secretly ship us?

**Nanami: **What?! Watson-san!

**Watson: **Ahaha…well look at the time! I have places to be and people to see! Looks like we gotta cut this interview short! *runs off screen*

**Nanami: **Watson-san! We aren't finished here! Did you even speak to Dread-kun about this?! *runs after Watson*

**Securus: ***turns to the screen with a smirk* The ladies really can't get enough of this. See you all next Sunday!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

So I think that was a nice wrap up to the second clue/island while also opening up more questions! What is Dark Water exactly? What does it have to do with Eli? What is the history between Duke and Madmartigan? When will Cordelia figure it out? And how will Jack get that drop of Dark Water needed for the map? All to be answered…eventually!

But I'm really excited to be getting into the third clue/island and introducing the next Black Skull member that will take on Storm's Helm! Especially with things heating up between Madmartigan and Cordelia! It's just a countdown now when that showdown will happen! I can't wait for it all!

So we'll jump right on into those awesome reviews!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yeah, Nanami did an awesome job keeping her guildmates from falling into the water while also taking on a siren general. And I actually looked up sirens online before I wrote that chapter and I learned something new since they are actually viewed as a mix between birds and women throughout mythology. I had always thought they were more sea based, but nope! They're bird women! Yeah, that Diamond Magic is pretty tough and I was excited to finally show it off for Zipporah. And I'm glad you liked that final fight between Cordelia and Adonia! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Haha! Guess I updated right on time then! Yeah, Gamu was turned into a literal parrot that time, but it just worked so well! Glad you liked Nanami in her fight! I was super pumped to be able to show off her fighting abilities since all the other S-Class have pretty much been shown in some sort of fight except for her. Yeah, Aria and Alisa are always entertaining for me. And yeah, when I was writing Zipporah's scene, it did feel like those two were evenly matched, so I quite liked how it turned out. Haha! Yeah, I wanted to give Adonia a different sort of weapon, and the curved swords popped up into my head and I was like, I know they have to have a name! Thank God for google! And in some siren lore, they did eat men…they even had piles of rotting flesh and bones around them *insert disgusted face*…but then in others, they just lured men to crash their ships into rocks. So I went with the deadlier version of them. Oh yeah, Cordelia was definitely not messing around with Adonia, not after what she had the other sirens doing to the guild. I think you're gonna find that some of the characters in Storm's Helm will kill much easier than they do in Thunder Stone. But I'm really glad to hear that you liked that final scene. I really did enjoy writing it. I'm not sure what kind of mood I was in writing all the scenes…I think I thank a lot of it on that song I was listening to, but I had been wanting to get to some more gritty scenes like that, so I think it just took control of itself until it all turned out the way it did. Parasyte is pretty good. I think some people were complaining because it wasn't as good as the original or something. I've never watched the original version, but I thought this version of it was good. I liked it, so I would say to watch it if you have a chance to. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **Long live the queen! Glad you enjoyed the chapter and all the fights that came with it! We're slowly getting closer to the end of the arc too! And that mysterious Sam…lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Nanami kicked some definite butt in her scene! LOL, guess they weren't manly enough to be entranced by those sirens! Yeah, Zipporah definitely started kicking butt harder in her scene with the siren tried to mess with Gordon. Yep, and first blood goes to Cordelia! And thank you for the new question! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **HAZZAH! Action packed chapter! Nanami and Zipporah were definitely kicked some major butt in their scenes! And I've been waiting to show off Zipporah's magic, so I'm glad you liked the way that turned out! Haha! Glad I could make you laugh with that Gamu moment! Cordelia really stepped into that role of badassery, didn't she? LOL, well I'm glad you liked her scene too! And I'm glad you're still liking the question corner! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you liked the chapter! We definitely got to see the women in action! CHA! Yeah, Eli snapped right out of that once the middle name was added into the threat, lol! But I'm sure he and the others appreciate those brownie points! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Yeah, those sirens were pretty nasty. And yep, acid fire! It worked so well for the Green Fire when I was working on expanding the colors in Rainbow Fire. And yeah, Cordelia is now queen! CHA! And I'm sure Zhuue made sure that Jack didn't do anything stupid, but we got to see him this chapter! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**CryptozoologyConundrum - **Glad you've been enjoying the story! And all those CordEli moments! You are more than welcome to be Captain of that ship, lol! Yep, Cordelia is queen of the sirens now! And thank you for your question! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Haha! Glad you enjoyed that last chapter! All that action and punches and loops and Gamu! And now Cordelia is queen! And I don't mind the whole 'Cool!' thing, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Yep, queen of the sirens! And that cryptic message…haha! I'm sure you couldn't help yourself with that. Glad you liked Nanami's scene! I really had a lot of fun with that and having her on that timeframe basically since she had all those loops going and also fighting a siren. I'm glad I was finally able to show her off in a fight! And well…Cordelia is a bit selfish, so she's keeping the title! CHA! Let's just hope that doesn't come back to bite her in the ass! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Haha, yeah, Gamu was turned into a legit parrot this time around. Glad you liked the fight scenes for Nanami and Zipporah. Yeah, using that full name sure did the trick. Yep, Cordelia is now the queen of the sirens! And she kept the title too, so I'm sure that will eventually come in handy later on down the line! Oh man, seeing Sam and Hagi get advice from Elfman would be ridiculous, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**IdentityCrisis.03 - **:3 Glad you're liking all the action! Glad to hear you like Nanami's magic! It really is fun to use since she can jump through loops and everything! Yeah, Securus probably did get off a little easy there. And yep, Eli finally snapped out of that trance. Just use the full name and it's like magic! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Glad you enjoyed the fights and seeing Zipporah's magic! And I'm glad you liked that gun wall too! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Saiyan God.101 - **Cordelia is the queen now! CHA! And I guess all it took for her to leave with a level headed siren, lol, so she lucked out! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Over 9000?! How am I supposed to beat that?! Haha! But I'm really glad you liked all the fight scenes and all that girl power with it! CHA! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

And that should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Please remember to review!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	23. The Drunk

**A/N: **It's Sunday again! So welcome to another chapter of Storm's Helm!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 23: The Drunk**

**April 13, X792 – Late Morning**

Days had passed since the guild's time at Nebula and it seemed as if things had calmed down for a while. Since Cordelia had to wait for Jack to figure out how to deal with the Dark Water, she had told Matilda to just keep the guild moving around in the ocean in between Nebula and the next set of three islands belonging to Caelum. This allowed the guild time to laze around and recuperate from their recent fights with the Black Skulls and the sirens. And it helped that Bern and his Captains had seemed to back off for the time being as well as Madmartigan making no further movements since their stand off. So the past couple of days were ones that Cordelia had used to catch up on some much needed sleep, which she was still currently doing at the moment on the middle vessel.

A few hammocks had been hung up on the deck, some in the sun while others were hidden away under canopies for shade. Cordelia was currently sprawled out on her back on top of Seth, who sat in one of the hammocks in the sun to keep warm. Both mages were completely dead to the world, Cordelia seeming to have picked up on Seth's habit of napping since he had joined the guild, and she found him to be quite useful in the pillow department. Eli hung next to them, his own head dipping down every now and then as he struggled to stay awake. The only thing keeping him awake at the moment was the wooden guitar he was lazily strumming. Most people left the trio alone, keeping themselves busy with their own plans of relaxation. Though, there seemed to be a few people with their eyes on the small group.

Isaak was the first to approach them, finding the scene rather amusing. He looked over at Eli to make sure the fire mage hadn't noticed him. It wouldn't do for his rival to start rampaging on such a peaceful day. Once he was sure that Eli wasn't paying attention to him, he started in on his plan of messing with the guild master. First he started by tickling her nose lightly, causing her to swipe a hand lazily upwards and turn her head away from him. He then began to playfully poke her in the arm and her side which caused her to completely roll over and even for Seth to unconsciously move an arm around her waist to keep her from falling. He stood thinking of what to do next to bother her when Mac and Zinnia made their way over to him.

"If you're trying to mess with her, you're going about it all wrong," Mac said, pushing Isaak out of the way, "Let an expert show you how it's really done. Care to help me, Zinnia?"

"Of course!"

The two women stepped up to either end of the hammock that Cordelia and Seth laid in, grabbing onto the loose ends of it. Once they felt they had a tight enough grip, Mac counted to three and the two spun the hammock as hard as they could. The pair laying in it instantly woke up when they felt themselves spinning and becoming stuck in the cloth. Mac and Zinnia took that moment to run from the area, leaving behind Isaak to fend for himself. Once the hammock stopped spinning, only a leg from Seth and an arm from Cordelia could be seen sticking out of it, the rest of their bodies being stuck inside of it. Isaak could only laugh at the sight before him, Cordelia easily picking up on the laughter and who it belonged to.

"Isaak! What the hell did you do?!" she shouted, but it was muffled due to her current position.

"What are you talking about, angel?" he asked, still laughing lightly.

"Don't you try acting all innocent! Get me out of here so I can punch you!"

Eli's head popped back up from hearing the shouting, the fire mage looking over to see Cordelia and Seth stuck in the hammock while Isaak stood beside it laughing.

"Marzell!" Eli shouted as he jumped out of his own hammock and set down his guitar, "What did you do?!"

Isaak slammed a hand in his face when he came running around towards him to keep him at bay, "Chill out, flame brain. I didn't do anything."

"Yeah right! Because the hammock just spun itself! You gotta come up with something better than that, Isaak!" Cordelia shouted.

"It would be appreciated if you unwound us," Seth said, "It's pretty cramped in here and Cordelia is only going to get more angry. I'd rather not be right next to her when she finally explodes."

"You heard them, Marzell! Undo your dirty work, you card playing loser!"

"Ah, with demands like that, I really have no reason to do what you say," Isaak said with a smirk aimed at Eli, "Besides, I caught myself an angel. Why would I let her go?"

"ISAAK!"

"MARZELL!"

"Isaak, please," Seth pleaded when Cordelia started thrashing about.

"What will I get in return?"

"What?!" Cordelia said, "You were the one that did this! There's no way I'm giving you anything in return!"

"But you can't really prove that I did it, can you?"

"You better hope I don't catch you when I get out of here! Disturbing a girl while she's sleeping! What a horrible thing to do!"

It was at that moment that Jay came running up onto the deck where the group was with Ace close on his heels, the sword mage having been dragged along by Jay. The younger man was about to shout his reasoning for breaking onto the scene when he was stopped short by the sight of the two mages being stuck in a hammock while Isaak was laughing and holding back an angry Eli.

"What…uh…what's going on?" Jay asked.

"Jay! Thank God!" Cordelia said, "Get me out of this damn hammock!"

"Yes ma'am!" he said, running up to the twisted cloth. He struggled at first, mostly due to the weight Seth's body put into the hammock, but eventually with Ace's help, the two men spun the hammock back around. Cordelia was flung right on top of Jay in her freedom while Ace got the short end of the stick as Seth was thrown onto him, the large man slamming Ace down on the deck in their tumble.

"Haha, sorry about that," Seth said, laughing lightly as he stood up and helped a smashed Ace back to his feet.

"Yeah, no biggie," Ace wheezed out.

Jay was flat on his back staring right up into the face of his guild master, her green hair spilling all around her face while her blue eyes looked back at him with a thankful stare in them. Jay instantly felt the blush rise up through his entire face at their close proximity, no longer being able to remember why he came onto the deck to begin with.

"Thanks Jay!" Cordelia smiled brightly, giving him a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. This caused Jay to blush harder to the point of passing out.

"I think you killed the poor boy," Isaak said once Cordelia was standing on her feet again. Cordelia set her sights on the rune mage when she heard him speak, stomping up to him and squarely punching him in the shoulder, "You still hit as hard as ever, angel," he said, reaching up to rub the shoulder she hit.

"Consider yourself lucky for getting off easy," she huffed, "You ever get me stuck like that again, I'll make sure Rozenolf has you serving her tea for two hours."

Isaak could only laugh nervously at the fact that his Light Elemental had a weird habit of making him serve her tea even though she didn't actually drink it. She had done that to him yesterday to make up for the fact that she had to save him again against the sirens.

"Now then," Cordelia said, turning to look at Ace, "What did Jay come running up here for?"

"I don't know," he answered, "He told me to follow him and then you overheated him!"

"Well someone fan him awake."

"Shouldn't you do that since you were the one to put him in that condition?" Ace said.

"Don't give me your attitude!"

"I'm not! I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking! You're really annoying sometimes!"

"You're the poster boy for annoying! Now wake him up!"

"Why me?!"

"Because I said so!"

"Guys! I'm awake now!"

The Murdock siblings stopped their argument to see Jay in a sitting position now, though he still had a hint of a blush across his cheeks, "Don't keep us waiting like that!" they both shouted, causing Jay to flinch back away from them while the three other men in the background sighed in response.

"So what did you come running up here for?" Cordelia asked.

"Oh right!" Jay said, pulling out some flyers from his back pocket, "I got the morning newspaper from the traveling news gull today and I found something in it that I thought you needed to see," he explained, handing over the rolled up scrolls to Cordelia.

She took the papers from him and unrolled them. A shocked expression covered her face as she read over the scroll over and over again. She then flipped through the others that were with it, her eyes becoming wider every time she flipped to the next paper, "OI! What is this?!"

Isaak quickly yanked the papers from Cordelia's hands, "Well now, this is unexpected," he said, flipping through the four different flyers.

"What is it?" Eli asked.

"Looks like you all got bounties on your heads," Isaak said, "By order of the Western Vice Admiral, Bern Eversaw."

"WHAT?!" Eli shouted, grabbing the papers from Isaak. He flipped through them, naming off the people as he went, "Cordelia Murdock, Seth Ornison, Ace Murdock and Eli Winchester! What the hell?! We didn't even do anything!"

"How much is mine?" Seth asked, trying to peer over Eli's shoulder at them.

"That's your reaction?!" Eli shouted, turning to look up at him, "You should be more worried about your reputation and the guild's reputation! We're supposed to be a legal guild! Not a place filled with wanted men!"

"Are you mad because Cordi and Seth have larger bounties than you?" Ace asked, pulling out his own bounty sheet that showed he was worth 2,000,000 jewels.

"I should be higher than you at least!" Eli shouted over at the younger man after looking at his own 2,000,000 jewel bounty sheet. His outburst only caused Ace to smirk at him, "But that's not the point! This is a lame way for that Vice Admiral to pick a fight!"

"At least the pictures are decent," Seth said after reading over his own sheet and the 2,500,000 jewel reward that was on it, "I wonder when they took them."

"And of course I look the best and have the biggest bounty," Cordelia smirked, looking down at her own smiling face and the 3,000,000 jewel reward on it, "It's like Bern is trying to woo me, haha!"

"As the guild master, you should really be more worried about this!" Eli said, "What happens if bounty hunters show up here?!"

"Then I guess we'll have to show them why we got bounties on our heads in the first place," she answered, "Besides, if Bern wants a fight, then he's more than welcome to one. I still have a bone to pick with him after what he did to my Tsar Cannon. He's just lucky that I have a crafter on the ship that can fix her."

Eli sighed heavily at her response, "Cor, shouldn't you at least try to contact the Admiral to get this fixed?"

"You worry too much," she said as she bopped his nose with a finger, "Besides, it's pretty badass, right? I think I'll frame it."

"Plus, if Bern did this just so he can get a fight out of us, then I'm sure word will eventually reach the Admiral and they'll do something about it then. No use freaking out about it now," Ace said with a shrug before looking over at Cordelia, "We might have some extra frames in storage. I'll check it out since I want one too."

"I'll come help you," Seth smiled, "We should feel proud that we impressed the Vice Admiral so much."

Eli could only stare at the other three in shock, "You're all crazy!"

"Come on," Isaak said, patting him on the back, "You know you want a frame too."

"Can it, Marzell!"

**. : + : .**

Mingo made his way across the deck to head towards Madmartigan's office. He had finished checking up on Micky for the morning and had received the morning newspapers, finding some interesting flyers in them. He smiled to himself as he maneuvered around the rest of the crew. It seemed that the newest guild master for Storm's Helm was proving herself to be a force to be reckoned with, at least it seemed that way according to the flyers he had in his hands. She would be an interesting person to have a conversation with…if he wasn't stuck on board the Black Skulls that was. He sighed at that last thought as he finally had made his way down to the office. He knocked on the door to hear a grumble of 'come in' in response.

"Morning Captain," he said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Heard anything on the guild figuring out the third clue yet?" Madmartigan asked, standing over near a window. He stared out into the bright sun, keeping his back to Mingo.

"You really have a way of greeting people, sir," Mingo said, "But to answer your question, no. The guild hasn't made a move to a new island or any specific destination. They're just resting out in the middle of the ocean for the moment."

"Hmm, seems they've hit a bump in the road when it comes to the clues then."

"Are you wanting to try and raid them while they're waiting?"

"No," he answered, a ghost of a smirk appearing on his lips, "The little girl has peaked my interest."

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with that guild?"

"I don't, but she's…she's so much like him. I can't help but to want to see what she can do."

"Do you really think that's a good idea, sir?"

"It doesn't matter if it's a good idea or not any longer," he answered, finally turning to look at Mingo, "I'll keep sending out men to keep her on her toes and when the final battle finally comes about, that's where I'll be waiting for her."

"So you'll purposefully send your men out knowing that they'll be beaten just to get her riled up?"

"My men might get a few scrapes and bruises, but not without making their own blows to her own crew along the way. That's what bothers her the most, Domingo," he said, a dark look coming over him, "Seeing her mages being hurt, it drives her crazy. I'll keep doing that over and over again until she can't take it anymore. That's the only way to get a real fight out of her. We got to see a glimpse of that cold nature she buries underneath her soul when she took out that siren. She may call herself the master of a legal guild, but she's no different than me. What a wonderful fight I can see in the future. I can already taste the intensity building up."

Mingo didn't know what to say or how to react to his Captain's words. It felt like Madmartigan was losing himself in this chase of cat and mouse. While they were pirates, if he kept sending out crew members to a potential death against the guild, he may not have a crew to order around one day. Mingo had to wonder what it was that was driving his Captain so far over the edge. Was his history with Duke and the guild that deep? What had he done to Duke that made him loose all common sense? Whatever it was, it kept Duke from showing the four bounties shoved away in his coat. He felt that if his Captain had seen them, it would only fuel his drive against Cordelia. While Madmartigan might feel an epic fight in the air, Mingo could only feel their demise hanging in the air if they continued with things. He would have to be much more cautious going forward. He was a pirate, but he sure as hell didn't feel like dying over something so stupid as a treasure map or an old rivalry that had nothing to do with him. His freedom was more important than that.

**. : + : .**

Zhuue made her way across the guild, attempting to find her guild master per Jack's request. She bounced around through each ship in hopes of finding her, eventually finding her on the ship that held the storage rooms. She jumped up and down quickly and waved her arms wildly to get Cordelia's attention. The gun mage laughed as she approached the blonde woman.

"Calm down. I see you," Cordelia said, reaching up to pull Zhuue's hands down from the air, "What can I help you with?"

Zhuue straightened up her back and tried to look at professional as she could while pretending to hold a clipboard and writing on it.

"Jack?"

Zhuue smiled as she bopped Cordelia on the nose.

"He wants to see me then?" she asked, earning a nod from the blonde, "All right then. You boys keep looking for those frames. I'll be back in a bit."

"Where are you going?" Eli asked, popping his head up from the pile of supplies he was mulling through.

"I just need to see Jack about something. Nothing major, so I'll be back soon," she answered as she left the storage area with Zhuue. This left the men in the room exchanging curious glances before they dove back into searching for the frames. Eli, though, couldn't help but want to follow the pair of women. He felt that there was something else going on that Cordelia wasn't telling them.

"Don't go doing something stupid," Isaak called after him when he saw the fire mage moving to follow Cordelia, "She'll get mad at you again and I don't believe that throwing another party will fix it this time. Just trust that there's a reason she didn't ask you to follow her."

"Tch, I don't need advice from someone like you," Eli mumbled as he walked out of the storage room.

Isaak sighed, knowing that this was only bound to cause trouble, so he decided to follow along as well. Better that his idiot rival have some back up if Cordelia really did get mad.

Cordelia quickly made her way to the front ship first to grab the map just in case she would need it. She then smiled at Zhuue again when she made her way back to the top deck before the pair made their way back towards the infirmary where Jack would be. Zhuue spoke to Cordelia in her animated fashion, Cordelia seeming to be able to understand everything that the mute woman told her. They soon found themselves at the infirmary, Jack waiting for them in the now empty room. Cordelia was glad to see the infirmary empty though after what they had been through back on Nebula.

"Jack," Cordelia greeted, "You called for me?"

"I did," he said, smiling over at his blonde assistant, "Thank you for being so quick with my request, Zhuue."

Zhuue smiled brightly in return, giving the man a quick hug before she stepped behind him.

"I believe I have figured out a way to get what you need for the map. Just one drop will do, correct?"

"I think so," Cordelia said as she pulled out the map and laid it on one of his work tables, "It only took one drop of Van's blood to show the next clue, so my guess is that it'll only take one drop of that…water to reveal the third clue."

"You're probably right," Jack said as he pulled out the jar of Dark Water she had given him along with a specialized syringe that he had made for this specific job, "I created a heated syringe. What it should do is allow the needle to melt through the metal lid to reach the water. Once I have what I need and pull the needle back out, it should be hot enough to close the metal behind it and keep the water inside the jar."

"Do you have a back up plan in case that doesn't work?"

"Not really," Jack said, "But most of my plans work the first time I implement them, so there's a ninety percent chance that it'll work."

"I still don't like that there's a ten percent chance of failure. You do realize what will happen if this stuff gets out, right?"

"I understand that, but if you wish to continue with this hunt, then you'll have to take that risk," Jack said, "Unless you want to just break the bottle open."

Cordelia stood in thought for a moment, biting at her bottom lip as she thought about the consequences if Jack's plan didn't work. She finally sighed as she gave into his plan, "All right, let's do it. But I want all of us to be on guard in case something does go wrong."

"Of course," Jack said, nodding back at Zhuue for the woman to be ready in case things did go wrong.

"Make sure that there's no space between the map and the water when you drop it onto it," Cordelia said, "I don't want there to be any chance of even a drop of it escaping."

"Aye, I know," Jack answered as he turned on the heated option on the syringe. He only had to wait a few moments before it was ready. He then picked up the needle and was about to sink it through the lid when the door was thrown open.

Cordelia swiped the jar out of his hands before he could drop it or sink the syringe in the wrong way. The trio looked up to see who had interrupted them. Cordelia's eyes went wide when she saw Eli standing there along with Isaak right behind him. Eli stared down at the bottle in her hands, his own eyes wide as he instantly recognized the substance in the jar. The Dark Water was moving around in a chaotic fashion as soon as the fire mage had entered the room, as if it was desperately trying to reach out for him.

"Dark Water," Eli said lowly as he looked up from it to Cordelia, "Why…why is it on the guild?"

Cordelia couldn't answer him for a long moment, afraid of how he would react to her answer. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, the woman looking up to see Jack beside her.

"It is for the treasure hunt," Jack answered for her, "Blackstroker put this in the statue that she had to look for. The map needs a drop of it to reveal the third clue."

"Cordelia," Eli said, his tone growing harsh, "You know what that water is. Why would you bring it on the ship?"

"I…I didn't want to. I wanted to stop the hunt when I saw it."

"Then why didn't you? You know what that shit can do!"

"Oi, don't shout at her," Isaak said, moving in closer in case Eli did something stupid.

"It's okay Isaak," Cordelia said. She understood why Eli was becoming so angry at the sight of the Dark Water, so she felt he had a right to be angry and shout at the moment. She turned her attention back to Eli, "I had to think of the well being of the guild too. We're not getting that treasure just to have it. We're getting the treasure in order to keep everyone taken care of on the guild."

"There are other ways for us to get money. You need to throw that water out into the ocean. Right now!"

"That's not really your decision, is it?" Jack asked, stepping up to stand in between Cordelia and Eli.

"When there is Dark Water on this guild, it has everything to do with me," he said lowly, trying his best to keep his anger in check, "I don't want it on the ship!"

"Well it's not like I want it on here either!" Cordelia snapped, "But we need it to continue. We just need a drop and then we can get rid of it. I promise!"

Eli was about to say something in reply when Isaak grabbed onto his shoulder tightly, "She's just as bothered by it as you, you moron," he said, motioning over to Cordelia. It was then that Eli realized how much she was shaking by simply holding the jar and the fearful look that filled her eyes despite her trying to argue with him, "We just need one drop. Let Jack do his job and then we can get rid of the stuff."

Eli gritted his teeth together as he thought about what the right thing to do was. They really did need the treasure for the guild, but if something went wrong with the extraction of the Dark Water, it could be much more disastrous for the guild. He then looked back to Cordelia to see a pleading look in her eyes mixed in with her fear. He knew that it must have taken a lot for her to bring the jar on board, knowing what it was and what it could do. And he was sure that Finn knew that the water was on board the guild too. She would have gone to him about it, or at least someone must have told him about the water for him to go and see her about it. If Finn had decided to keep the water on board the guild until they could extract what they needed, then Eli knew that he would have to trust Cordelia on this one.

"Fine, but I'm staying here while you do it," he said in a finalizing tone as he took a seat.

Cordelia nodded at him as she finally handed the jar back over to Jack. She couldn't stop her hands from shaking and had shoved them into her coat pockets to keep them hidden for the time being. She hated showing such a weakness in front of people, but she was glad of the people in the room. They wouldn't give her grief for it later.

"Are we ready now?" Jack asked, looking out at the group. When he received nods from them, he continued with his earlier actions. Everyone seemed to hold their breaths as the needle melted right through the lid and made contact with the dark water. Jack pulled back on the needle ever so slightly to take the smallest amount of the liquid. There was a high pitched screech as he did this, the water seeming to scream out in pain in response to what was being done to it. Eli's entire body tensed up while Cordelia moved her shaking hands over her ears. Jack tried to make his work quick, but he also didn't want to take the chance of messing up. So he smoothly pulled back the needle at a steady pace, the lid closing up behind the needle when it was free like he thought it would. The dark water stayed in the jar, everyone letting out a small sigh of relief. Jack then moved the syringe over the map and placed it as close as possible to the paper. He eased out a single drop of the Dark Water, the black liquid landing on the paper before it had a chance to move anywhere else. Once the paper had soaked up the water, a new piece of the map was revealed along with the next clue. Jack set aside the jar and syringe for the moment, knowing he would have to get rid of them both later, and handed the map over to Cordelia, "It worked."

Cordelia took a moment to calm herself, taking in a deep breath in hopes of resetting her emotions for the moment. Once she felt calm enough and her hands were no longer shaking, she took the map from him to see new, white writing across the black area of it, "Congrats on figuring out how to get the Dark Water onto the map. I'm sure that was a puzzle in itself. I would say I'm sorry for putting you through that, but I am a pirate and I don't apologize for anything," she read aloud, knowing that if she were to ever met Blackstroker in person that she really would punch him in the face, "Now then, I'm sure you want the next clue. It won't be as lethal as the Dark Water, but trust me when I say it won't be easy to find. So good luck and happy hunting! William Blackstroker," she continued as her eyes shifted down to the third clue, "On shores of glass, you will find a mirror among mirrors. Find the right one and it shall lead you to a relic of water which will cleanse the map and lead you to a spirit of wishes," she finished, looking up at the rest of the mages in the room with her, "These clues keep getting weirder and weirder."

"Hmm, shores of glass," Isaak said, thinking for a moment before it dawned on him what Blackstroker was talking about, "I've heard that Caelum's island of lightning, Fulgur, constantly has lightning raining down and hitting its beaches. When lightning hits sand, it creates glass. I think our best bet is to head to Fulgur then."

"We'll head there then," Cordelia said, rolling up the map and shoving it back inside her coat. She looked back over at Jack, "Thank you for all your help. Just make sure to dispose of the water properly."

"You don't need to worry, I'll get rid of it," Jack answered, nodding to her before she moved out to head up to the navigation cabin to let Matilda know where they were heading.

Eli quickly followed her, Isaak keeping a close eye on him from his spot in the infirmary to make sure he didn't start another argument with her, "Cor, wait," he said as he grabbed onto her arm. Cordelia stopped, allowing the man to pull her back to face him, "I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just…that Dark Water…"

"I know, Eli," she answered, "I really am sorry that I brought it onto the guild."

"Don't bring anymore onto the guild…at least not without telling me first, all right?" he said, "I was just surprised to see it. You know how I feel about the stuff."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly as she moved in to hug him tightly, hiding her face away against his chest, "I'm still scared of it. How am I supposed to keep my promise to you when I can't even handle a jar of it? I don't want it to take you away."

Eli didn't have an answer for her. He was just as fearful of the Dark Water as she was, maybe even more so since he always seemed to be a target for it when it was around. He felt horrible that he had yelled at her for what she had done while she was already scared and he felt eve more horrible over the fact that he couldn't find anything to say to comfort her. The only thing that he could think to do was to hug her in return, hoping that would be enough to transfer his own feelings over to her.

**. : + : .**

Upon seeing the movement of the guild and that more than likely it was headed for Fulgur, Madmartigan made his way across the deck towards a man that he knew could handle the lighting island well. The Captain sighed though when he saw the large bottle of rum sitting next to the man. He hoped that he still had enough sense about him despite the rum he had running through his system now.

"Swabbie!" Madmartigan barked out, causing the man to jump a little as he turned to face him in his chair. The surprised look on the twenty-four year old's face quickly turned into a stupid grin.

"Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaptaaaaaaiiiiiiiin…Cap-Cap-Captain," he slurred out.

"It's the middle of the day and you're already like this?" Madmartigan grumbled, "Though, I really shouldn't be surprised."

The younger man stared up at him with small, half-lidded onyx eyes. He had thick, spiky shoulder length red hair that was slicked back in a wild and spiky style. He normally stood tall at 5'11" with light mocha tan skin and he had three black hoop earrings pierced above both eyes to act as eyebrows. He wore a shabby, sleeveless brown tunic that had faded gold trimmings on it with a large brown leather belt wrapped around the tunic at the waist to hold it closed. He also wore a pair of baggy, black pants that were tied shut by small ropes at the ends of the pant legs while he also had on a pair of simple sandals. The man was known through the crew simply as Swabbie; and while Madmartigan had figured out his real name of Niall Gerald from his time on his ship, the Captain had adopted the nickname for the man as well from his early days on the ship.

"I have a job for you, Swabbie," Madmartigan began, "Do you think you can handle it without getting drunk?"

"Ya know…I'm sad that hydras can't wear sweaters…"

Madmartigan sighed heavily has he ran a hand down his face. He gritted his teeth to keep his anger under control, "Niall!" he snapped, figuring it would be the easiest way to get the man's attention.

Swabbie's lopsided grin quickly disappeared as it was replaced with small frown he usually wore, "I'm listening," the man grunted.

"Glad to see I've got your attention now," the Captain said, "I need you to go onto Fulgur and track the guild, Storm's Helm. They have a map that I want. Get it for me."

Swabbie simply grunted in reply as he was normally a silent man when the rum was put aside.

"But while you're there, make sure you rile the guild up a bit. Their master doesn't seem to appreciate when her mages get hurt. I'm sure that's something you and your Rock Armor Magic can handle."

Swabbie only grunted again, but it was enough for Madmartigan to know the man would follow his orders. The Captain turned away from the redhead, his black coat flowing out behind him, "I'm coming for you, little girl. I wonder how angry you will be when next we meet," he said as he began laughing over the mere thought of the look on Cordelia's face when he saw her again.

**. : + : .**

A middle-aged man sat in a corner of a lively bar. The corner kept most of his face shadowed, though one could see the scruff of a dark beard across his face. He rubbed the beard with a calloused hand, figuring he needed to stop being lazy soon and shave it. Though, that wasn't his number one priority as he stared down at the bounty sheets before him that the town had just received that morning.

"What troublemakers my kids have become," he mumbled, but there was a proud grin across his face nonetheless.

"You've been lookin' at those an awful long time now," a woman, the owner of the bar, said as she slammed down an extra large beer next to the man, "Somethin' must have caught yer interest with 'em."

"You might say that," he said as he took a gulp out of the glass, drinking down half of it in that one gulp. He then pulled out a cigar and cut the end of it off before pulling out a lighter and lighting it up. He blew out a stream of smoke in the opposite direction of the woman, "They've been a thorn in my side since the day they were born, especially these two," he said, pointing to the bounties with the titles of Cordelia Murdock and Ace Murdock.

"So these are the infamous siblin's you've talked up so much," the woman said as she peered over them. She then watched how the man's dark green eyes stared down at the pictures with pride and what she believed was love, "A'rite! Yer cut off!"

"What? Till when?"

"Till ferever," she answered, "It's time fer ya ta go home."

"I thought you said this could be my home now, old woman," he growled out, now blowing a stream of smoke into her face, "Don't be making decisions for me."

"My word is law 'ere, boy," she said, "Ya did what ya came 'ere ta do. Now it's time fer ya ta go home. Yer real home. I appreciate what ya did fer us…fer Cheyenne," she said, looking sad for a moment before the determined look returned to her face, "But ya still have people that need ya. We don't need ya anymore. So go home. Three years is a long time ta be gone. Ya gonna make those siblin's cry if yer gone too much longer. Ya willing to make such a pertty face cry?" she asked, tapping Cordelia's picture with her index finger.

The man stayed quiet as he looked back down at the pictures. She knew the woman in front of him was right. It had been three long years since he had been home, but he didn't know what was holding him back. There was nothing to be done in the country he was currently in…not anymore anyways. He had made sure of that, "I do miss my kids," he said before sucking down the rest of the cigar and blowing out a large stream of smoke.

"Then finish yer beer and get outta of my bar," she said.

He quickly finished off the second half of his beer in one gulp before rolling up the bounty sheets and shoving them away in his tattered brown cloak. He threw up the hood of the cloak to cover his face as he stood from the table, his 6'6" height causing him to be an opposing figure along with the broad and muscled frame his body had, "Thanks for all the beer," was all he said as he began walking out of the bar, his heavy steps echoing through the place.

"Oi! Take this," she said, throwing out a large case at him. He clicked it open to see it packed full of his favorite cigars.

"You really know how to steal a man's heart."

"There's also a boat at the docks. Just tell 'em that I told ya ta take The Sea Witch with ya," she called out as he continued his trek out the door, smirking under the hood when he heard once last shout from the old woman, "Just make sure yer dumbass goes straight home, Duke Ramirez!"

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from Cat the Alien for Cordelia:

**You're trapped in an elevator for six hours with Ingrid and Kasra. What will you do?**

**Cordelia: **What?! What kind of question is that?! Are they trying to torture me?!

**Watson: **It's just a question. It's not like it's really gonna happen.

**Ingrid: **We could make it happen though, my lovely Cordelia. *runs hands across Cordelia's shoulders*

**Cordelia: **SHE TOUCHED ME! *looks at Watson* You said there would be no physical contact in this interview!

**Watson: **I'm not their keeper! Besides, where are your usual bodyguards?

**Cordelia: **They didn't come today because of…_him_.

**Kasra: **You really shouldn't get so worked up. We simply came to hear your answer.

**Ingrid: **Yes, my lovely Cordelia, won't you answer the question?

**Cordelia: ***stares suspiciously at Ingrid and Kasra* Well first off, that situation would never happen. I won't go anywhere alone with you creeps!

**Ingrid &amp; Kasra: **How hurtful!

**Cordelia: **But if it did happen, I would make sure to stand as far back away from them as I could with a spray bottle.

**Watson: **They're not cats…

**Cordelia: **I'm pretty sure they both were in a past life! But if they touched me, I'd probably blow the elevator open!

**Watson: **We can't afford those types of damages right now…

**Ingrid &amp; Kasra: ***exchanges glances and smirks before grabbing onto Cordelia and running off set*

**Watson: **Uhhh…I feel like I'm about to get into a lot of trouble with my producers…*giant explosion goes off in the distance…starts to cry* I might be fired over this…I hope to see you all again soon *cries harder as another explosion goes off with Cordelia shouting in the background*

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! Hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Niall 'Swabbie' Gerald - Dreadburner94**

**Duke Ramirez - MyDearWatson**

Uh…so…YAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSS! Duke's first appearance! OMG! I'm freaking out about it, haha! I've been just as antsy as the rest of you for even a glimpse of him, so when I found an opportunity, I sure as hell took it! GAH! So I hope you all enjoyed his bit!

And another YAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS for the next Black Skull member to be introduced and for the third clue to be revealed! So many things going on! And now we get to head into the third clue and all the awesome stuff that happens with that! So I hope you're all ready for that!

Phew! Okay, I got some of that out of my system!

Now then, if you read Thunder Stone, then you're well aware of challenges that happen from time to time with that story. Meaning, my Beta, Dreadburner94, and I challenge each other, usually over special occasions, for one person to write as many chapters as they can in a week's time span and then the other person will match that number of chapters in the following week for their own story. Well, we got to talking the other night and somehow we decided on a new challenge happening. No reason really other than just because and since it had been a while since we've had one. So! I will be going first in this challenge! So between today and the 26th, I will be writing as many chapters as I can between both stories, so I'm hoping to at least update both Storm's Helm and Thunder Stone twice during this challenge, but we'll see how things go. So don't be surprised if you see another chapter for Storm's Helm earlier than usual, not that any of you would probably mind, lol. So just sit back an enjoy the ride while the challenge is going on, especially if you read both stories!

I don't think I have much else, so I'll jump right into those awesome reviews next!

Thanks to those of you that reviewed last chapter!

**PlaguedAmbition - **Glad I've peaked your interest with that Dark Water and its connection to Eli! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **I liked Rhouth myself! I was like, well, there's gotta be at least one decent siren and then Rhouth was made! Haha! I'm glad you liked that statue! One of my friends actually gave me the idea, so I'm glad it worked out really well. And no telling on how he got that statue on the island until we meet him! (Whoops! Was that another teaser?! That's what you get for that harbringer comment in your response to my questions in the forum, fufufu!) Yep, that Dark Water definitely has to do with the promise that Cordelia made to Eli. And yeah, I figured Cordelia would be selfish enough to keep the title of Queen of the Sirens. Glad you're still liking Finn's character too! Haha, Madmartigan is slowly going…uh…crazy? Is that the right word…well it is now! But yeah, I'm not sure what he was thinking either other than him not really thinking at all when it came to getting that map back. But we'll see he descent into madness slowly coming along…guess with a past like his, it would make sense though. That's what you get for screwing with a storm! *cue cheesy but still badass music* Haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yep, that land sickness cure definitely comes in handy! The length of time it lasts will progress throughout the story though. But yeah, why not have a statue of yourself?! Yeah, Lance and Chris got pretty lucky there. And more to come on that Dark Water and how it all works even in small amounts! Yeah, Mingo was able to stop a battle from breaking out, but will he be able to stop Madmartigan in the future?! It's not looking so good for him right now…But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **I think a lot of you are now curious on the Dark Water, so more to come on that. And Duke! We got to see a glimpse of him finally! So I hope you enjoyed that and the chapter as a whole!

**reven228 - **YAS! I'm so glad that someone got the Dark Water reference! I used to watch that show as a kid and I thought that so much more could be done with the Dark Water, so ta-daa! The Dark Water made an appearance in the story! Haha, well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Haha, well you'll be getting some quick updates this week thanks to the challenge! And now I can only picture Securus and Gordon carrying the girls back to the infirmary like that. Haha! Questions, questions, questions! So many questions! And no instant answers! Muwhahahahaha! But yep! A new Black Skulls member introduced this chapter! Hope you liked him from what you got to see! Haha, she did shoot down her own ship, like instantly too! Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**DarkHyena - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And Jack got the Dark Water figured out! But if Devin hadn't talked to her that way, then they never would have gotten the third clue! So it's okay! Nope, not even one siren, lol. Too many chances of them eating someone, haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **^.^ Well you know how I felt about your review response a while ago, but still, one of the best review responses ever! I keep cracking up over it still! I'm glad you really got into that the way you did! But Euclid! He's jumping worlds! What the heck?! And I had to give him information for sending Nanami your way! Super shady business deals are super shady! You keep him out of my guilds! But Madmartigan is, uh, kinda losing it, haha! So we'll see how his plans go. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! I had fun with that showdown between the Captains and it's only bound to get more intense! And I'm glad you're liking that concept of Dark Water. And I hope you liked how Jack figured things out with getting that drop of water too! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for now!

See you all again when the next update comes around!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	24. Duke's Journal

**A/N: **YAS! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 24: Duke's Journal**

**April 13, X792 - Night**

Cordelia was flipping through masses of papers that had been thrown across her desk. She knew it had to be after midnight and that she should probably be asleep by now, but the thoughts running through her mind wouldn't let her rest. Though, on this night she was kept company by her brother sitting across from her, Ace leafing through the pile of papers with her. They each had a few empty beer glasses stacked on the floor near them. When the night had gotten late, Cordelia had switched them over to tumblers of dark whiskey, the currently half filled glasses sitting on the desk top near their respective owners.

"Cordi," Ace sighed as he sat back in his chair, running a hand through his short hair, "We've been at this all day. Ever since you figured out that third clue."

"I told you that you could go to bed a while ago," she said without looking up at him.

"I'm not complaining about being tired. It's just that we've been over and over these papers. There's nothing in them."

"There has to be something we're missing," she said as she ran her hand through her own hair, "I mean, history just doesn't disappear, right?"

"Not unless someone doesn't want it found," he said, watching as his sister's face scrunched up in frustration before she dove back into the papers, "Cordelia, seriously, we should stop for the night."

"I can't just stop," she said, finally looking up at him, "I have to figure out what the history is between Duke and Madmartigan. If it's anything like that pirate is insinuating, we might be dealing with something bigger than we thought."

"Well, it's not like we haven't heard of the Black Skulls before, right? They're stronger than the average pirate crew, but nothing really out of the ordinary for them. Why are you suddenly so worried?"

"It's the way he spoke about Duke. And also how he pretty much called me a piece of shit captain for not knowing my own guild's history. We've been on the guild since the day we were born, Ace. Why haven't we heard anything about Duke and Madmartigan? We would have heard something. We hear all the other stuff all those lazy, old mages did back in their hay day, so why not this?"

Ace sighed as he grabbed what was left of his whiskey, "Did you ever think about how maybe there's things that we're better off just not knowing?"

"That's a stupid thing to say. Everyone should know their history. That's how we learn things, idiot," she said, smacking her palm to his forehead, "Plus, I'm also the guild master now. I have a right to know these things if I'm going to protect the guild."

"Well then," he said, rubbing his forehead, "Have you tried talking to dad about this? Madmartigan said that he knew about his history with Duke too."

"The old man isn't gonna give me jack squat to go on," she huffed, grabbing her own glass of liquor.

"He's been helpful up until now, so why suddenly doubt him?"

"You obviously haven't been paying attention to what he does for your entire life. Sometimes I really wish mom hadn't rubbed off on you so much," she sighed before chugging down what was left in her glass and slamming it down on the desk, "Dad has this habit of giving out help here and there. Just bits and pieces to think he'll always have the answer and then one day, bam! He pulls the damn rug out from under you. Says it makes a mage stronger to sort things out on their own once they understand the basics."

"It's barely been two weeks since you've become guild master. You think he's really gonna do that to you now?"

"Probably. I'd rather expect sooner than later," she said, "But this history…it has to do with Duke and dad's not one for giving out information on family and friends so easily. And also, if we haven't heard anything about it until now, then its even more likely that he won't give me any information. The cheapskate!"

"There's really only one way to find out if you're right or not," Ace said, finishing his own drink before standing, "You're gonna have to ask him. He might still be up with those lazy bums he hangs out with, so you can check the middle ship if you want. I'm heading to bed though. I'll help you out in the morning if you need it."

"Thanks Ace," she smiled at him as he left the office. Cordelia sighed again, knowing that her brother was right. There was only going to be one way for her to figure out if her dad would help her out or not, "This would be so much easier if Duke was home and I could corner him or something!" she said as she stood from her desk to make her way out towards the middle vessel. She gathered all the beer glasses up to take them with her, not wanting to let them sit there over night, "That clumsy idiot better hurry up and get home already. He better believe I'm gonna chew his ass out for being gone for so long! He was supposed to be here when I became guild master!"

Cordelia went quiet once she realized that she was shouting. She hadn't known her voice had risen so much, but it was frustrating that Duke had decided to be gone for so long. She knew that whatever he was gone for was important, but three years seemed to be overkill. What could he be doing for so long?

"Whatever," she mumbled as she picked up the last glass, "I'll just give him a few good hits for it later. Now to go find dad."

Cordelia made her way across the guild, making sure to keep her steps careful in the dark. Soon enough, she had made it to the deck of the main ship, dropping off the empty glasses first. She had missed Eli and Seth sitting off to the side of the bar, having a few drinks of their own. They watched as Cordelia searched through the dim light of the bar lights until her eyes lit up when they landed on her father, who sat a table with a few other older men. They continued watching as she walked up to the table, figuring it would at least be an interesting show to end their night on.

"Oi! Dad!" Cordelia said as she came to stand in front of him.

The table he sat at went quiet for a moment as they all looked to see who had called out. The other men were smiling again when they saw Cordelia in front of them.

"Look! It's little Cordelia come to pay us a visit!" the fist man started.

"Although, she's not so little now. She's our guild master now," another added.

The third man nudged Finn with a laugh, "Looks like you have to take orders from your own daughter now. What do you think about that?"

"What is it, Cordelia?" Finn asked with an unamused face. He was sure the other men wouldn't shut up about this for the rest of the night.

Cordelia could feel her eye twitching in annoyance at the men before her, but she ignored them for the time being, "I need to talk to you about Duke and Madmartigan."

The three other men went quiet again, serious looks covering their faces now. Finn glanced over at them and gave them a curt nod, silently telling them they needed to leave. The men didn't argue as they got up without taking their beers with them. Once he was sure they were gone, Finn turned back to his daughter.

"What do you want to know?"

Cordelia stood there for a moment in shock. She hadn't been expecting her dad to be so cooperating, but things were moving smoothly for the moment. She shook her head, reminding herself on what she needed to do, "I want to know the history between them."

"What is there to tell? He and Madmartigan were in a battle and Duke took his hand," he said, looking down at the table with his hand tightly wrapped around his beer.

"Don't lie to me!" she snapped, "Something else had to happen for Duke to react like that. And for Madmartigan to speak the way he does. He said that he took something from Duke that was greater than his own hand. So what happened? I can't find anything in any of the files I have. It's like someone just ripped that part of the guild history out. You can't just make history disappear, dad."

"Sometimes things are better left in the dark, Cordelia."

"It's my right to know these things as the guild master," she said, her tone firm and unwavering, "And now we're involved with the Black Skulls, that makes it that much more imperative that I know what happened. What happens when I end up fighting Madmartigan and I don't know what you know? And don't tell me that I'm not gonna fight him, because you know it's gonna happen eventually!"

Finn stayed silent as he continued to stare at the table in front of him.

"Don't ignore me!" she shouted, slamming a fist down on the table, "Tell me what happened!"

Finn stood up at his full height to stare down his daughter when her fist slammed down. An unusual flare of anger was in his eyes, causing the two younger men watching in the background to tense up. Cordelia, though, stood her ground against her father.

"As I said," Finn started, "There are things that are better left in the dark. There's no reason for you to go digging up things that don't concern you. You try digging this up, it'll only bring up pain, not just for the people that were there that day, but for yourself. Leave it be."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes at him, "It concerns me when we're dealing with the Black Skulls now. And maybe if you all didn't keep burying whatever it was that happened, then you could all have some peace by now. Maybe this needs to be added to my list of promises if it bothers you so much."

"Cordelia, I'm telling you to leave this one alone."

"You think I can't handle it?"

"It'll break your heart and I don't want to watch that happen all over again!" Finn shouted, finally surprising Cordelia, "I had to watch Duke lose himself because of it, so I'll be damned if I watch my own daughter take on that pain too!"

Cordelia was quiet for a moment as she thought of how to respond to him. Whatever it was that happened, it bothered her father greatly. He was never really affected by much, so whatever it was that happened must have been bad enough for him to become so angry over it. Her mind then ran over the guild master comment that was made earlier by one of her father's friends.

"I may be your daughter," she began, her voice low and unwavering again, "But right now, I am acting as your guild master. I am asking you to give me the information I know you have and as a member of this guild, I expect you to give me some sort of answer that will help me. I am not asking you to tell me the whole story, as I can see that it bothers you, but there must be something you can direct me towards that will help me discover things on my own."

Cordelia waited for a moment to see if her father would answer her, but Finn only stared back in silence.

"Fine," she huffed as she turned away from him, "Then I'll have to continue figuring it all out on my own. I won't stop until I know the history."

Finn watched as his daughter turned on her heels and began heading back towards the front ship. He hadn't expected a response from her like that - to ask him so formally for information, like a real guild master. He had to keep reminding himself that she was master of the guild now and not just his daughter. He wanted to protect her from all he could, and this history she was asking for, he knew it would hurt her. She would cry over it, he knew that without question. Cordelia had always been a girl that could connect with just about everyone she met. She was empathetic and felt their pain and happiness with them. And while this was a good quality for her to have, especially as a guild master, it could also be a downfall for her too. Some histories just contained too much pain and he was afraid that she wouldn't be able to handle Duke's. But then…he also had to trust her. He had to trust that she could handle everything that would be thrown at her as a guild master. It would be the only way she would be able to move forward in her new position. If he showed that he couldn't trust her with information, especially as a previous master himself, then others on the guild may not trust her either. He couldn't do that to his daughter, so with that thought, he sighed heavily before calling out towards her.

"In your office, there will be a hidden hatch somewhere. In this hatch should be a journal that Duke kept. It should have the history in it that you're looking for."

Cordelia stopped and glanced back at her father, "Where is the hatch and how do I open it?"

"You'll have to find it yourself. I still don't want you to know that history, Cordelia, so I'm not going to make it easy for you. But if you're determined enough, you'll eventually find it."

Cordelia rolled her eyes in response, "I suppose it's better than nothing," she mumbled, "So thanks."

Finn nodded at her, "And if you do find it, don't say I didn't warn you about it."

Cordelia nodded at him in return before continuing her trek to the head ship.

Finn finally let his anger go and felt his body relax. He then glanced back at the two men he knew had been watching the entire time, "Well? Go after her then."

Eli and Seth quickly finished off their drinks and did as they were told. They didn't want to stick around to see if he would blow up again, especially since Eli was well aware of what the man could do from his time growing up on the guild. The two ran passed him, towards the head ship, leaving Finn behind to plop back down into his seat.

"Hmm," he hummed as he stared down into his beer, "I wonder…will you help Duke out of the dark again, Cordelia?"

**. : + : .**

**April 14, X792 - Morning**

Seth sat on one side of the desk, papers and files all around him, while Eli sat across from him with just as big of a mess around him. Though, he also had Cordelia leaning up against him, the woman having fallen asleep a few hours before. The rest of the office had been flipped upside down in the search for the journal that Finn had spoken of, but the trio had yet to find anything. The two men had decided on taking a break for a moment since it was obvious they hadn't been looking in the right places.

"I'm surprised she even fell asleep. I'm sure that has something to do with you though," Seth said, looking over at Eli, who had his head tipped up to stare at the ceiling.

"She was still awake after I woke up from my own power nap. Sue me if I decided to warm the place up enough to finally knock her out for a bit," he said, looking back down at Seth now to see a knowing smile on the man's face, "And don't be trying to talk about pointless things. We still need to find that journal."

"I don't think I would call it pointless," he said with a chuckle, "But you're right. We need to find that journal before Cordelia goes crazy. I was surprised to see her stand up against Finn like that last night, so it must be pretty important."

"If we don't hurry, I'm pretty sure she'll just start ripping floorboards up next. The old man said it was in a hidden hatch, so it's not like it'll be in plain sight. Maybe there's a switch or something somewhere around here."

"We've tried looking for switches too. I mean, unless there's an invisibility spell in place, I feel like Finn was just pulling her leg."

"The old man wouldn't do that to her. Not about something like this anyways, so if he says there's a journal, then it's here in this room. We just need to look harder."

"Cordelia!" Hagi shouted, throwing the door open and interrupting the conversation.

Cordelia sat up straight on her seat while the two men looked back at the blonde that had just busted open the door. When Cordelia realized that it was just the cosplay mage that had entered her office, she sunk back down in her seat to drift off to sleep again, figuring that Eli and Seth could handle whatever he needed.

"What the hell happened in here?!" Hagi shouted, his eyes growing wide at the mess before him, "And after I had the place looking amazing! What did you do?!"

"Calm down," Eli grumbled, "We're just looking for something. I'm sure Cordelia will clean up the place once we find it."

"What are you looking for that you had to go and ruin the entire office?"

"A hidden hatch. There's something in there that Cordelia needs," Seth said.

"You should have come to me first!" he said, moving into the office while carefully stepping over papers, "I found one when I cleaned this place the first time," he continued as he pushed papers aside from the desk. He lifted the large calendar that was on top of it and clicked down on a hidden button that blended in with the wood. As soon as the button was pushed, the door of a hatch popped open, revealing a space big enough for a journal to fit into.

"Cor, wake up," Eli said, pushing on her shoulder.

"What?" she snapped, not happy at being woken up a second time, "If this is about Hagi wanting to set someone up on a date, I'm killing all of you."

"No one appreciates my work!" Hagi cried.

Seth laughed before looking over at Cordelia, "I think we might have found that journal."

Cordelia sat there for a moment as the information sunk in. Her eyes then flew open as she practically threw herself across the desk to peer down into the hatch. There was a small pile of papers, which looked to be a part of the documents that were missing from the history books for the guild. She picked them up first, uncovering a worn, brown leather journal. She shoved the folded documents into her back pocket before picking up the journal. She knew instantly that it had belonged to Duke without having to open in. It smelled like the cigars he always smoked.

"Finally!" she shouted, looking over at Hagi. She then threw herself at him in a tight hug, "You're the best, Hagi! Thank you!"

"You're welcome! And as payment, just let me set you up on a date!"

"I don't care what you do at this point!" she grinned, happy to have the journal in her hands.

"I hope you know that he knew about this hatch the entire time," Eli huffed, instantly disliking the idea of the blonde setting up Cordelia on some sort of weird date.

Cordelia froze before her grip tightened on Hagi, the blonde soon in a headlock, "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?! I spent all day and night looking for information and this journal!"

"I didn't know it was that important!"

"Tell me these things in the future!" Cordelia shouted, "Are there any other things that you didn't tell me about?!"

"That was the only one I found! I promise!" he answered, beginning to cry again.

"I don't think he can breathe all that well," Seth said.

Cordelia let him go at Seth's comments, "As punishment for not telling me about this sooner, you can clean up my office again for me. And don't be reading any of the files!"

"Yes ma'am," Hagi answered, streams of tears still running down his face, "But first, I did come down here to tell you that Matilda was asking for you. She said we were getting near the next island and she needed to know what you planned to do now."

"Damn, and just when I found the journal too," she mumbled, "I guess it can't be helped. Finding the next clue needs to take priority for the moment," she said as she grabbed her white coat and threw it on. She then shoved the journal into an inside pocket, feeling like it was safer with her than left in the office, "Let's go boys. I'll probably need your help getting all the sails pulled up. I don't want to take the chance of any lightning striking them," she said as all three of them began following her. She quickly turned on Hagi, "But not you! You stay here and clean," she demanded, narrowing her eyes at him, causing him to cry all over again. She then grabbed the map from her desk before moving out with Eli and Seth.

The trio made it up on top in time to see that the sails were being pulled up and tied off already as well as a few air and water mages using their magic to continue pushing the guild forward in place of the sails.

"Talk about efficiency," Cordelia said just as Zinnia appeared in front of her, "Zi!"

"I figured what you might have asked everyone to do and got a head start on it," the brunette smiled.

"You know me so well!" Cordelia said as she hugged Zinnia tightly. Once she let go of the woman, she looked out in front of the guild to see an island just ahead of them. The sky had darkened immensely, but there was no rain falling. Thunder could be heard far in the distance, but no loud rumbles or booms could be heard above them. What could be seen though, were streaks of lightning falling one after another. It was a continuous storm of bright flashes, which made Cordelia wonder how anyone could even survive on Fulgur, "I suppose I need to figure out a team to go onto the island. Though, this one won't be as complicated as the last two," she said as looked back over at Zinnia, "Go hunt down Drayden and Alisa for me please. I'll be sending them onto the island to uncover the next clue."

"Aye!" Zinnia said, racing off from the front ship to go find the two mages.

Cordelia then made her way up to the navigation cabin to speak with Matilda, "Oi! Matilda!" she called out, the woman appearing in front of her in an instant.

"There's so much lightning! Lightning everywhere, falling everywhere! Ohhh! Do you think it strikes in the same place twice here?! I think it would, it would make sense, right?!"

"Matilda!"

"Yes?"

"Did you find a port for this island?"

"Oh, yeah! Fulgur has a few of them actually. I think it's rather interesting that people have managed to live on the island. I wonder what they do to deal with the lightning. You think maybe I might have some time to go check it out?"

"Well, let us get into port first, all right?"

"We're just about to dock, so after we settle in, I can go inland, right?!"

"Sure," Cordelia smiled. Though, her smile quickly dropped when she saw a line of people seeming to be waiting for them at the docks. Many of them had weapons at the ready, "Oi! What's going on?!" she shouted down at them.

"We've been waiting for you, Cordelia Murdock!" a man standing in the middle of the crowd answered. His dark blonde hair was swept back messily, a few loose strand falling into his dark eyes.

"And just who the hell are you?!"

"The name's Ben Nolan! Bounty hunter extraordinaire! I'll be taking your head today and continue my title of being the best hunter in the world!"

Cordelia and the others stared at Ben and his men in disbelief. Anyone that actually announced themselves like that probably wasn't really that great at their job.

"I haven't even heard of you before," Cordelia said, "Are you new or something?"

"How dare you! I grew up as a bounty hunter! I've been a part of this business for as long as you've been a mage!"

"That just makes it even worse…" Cordelia continued, "Seriously, I've never heard of you, not even once."

"Maybe he's just trying to talk up his game!" Matilda said.

"I'm a bounty hunter! I am! I've caught a bunch of men with bounties on their heads!"

"We're they all idiots?" Eli asked.

"Maybe they were all the cheap ones that no one wants to waste their time on," Cordelia said, looking over at the fire mage.

"I suppose that's a nice thing to do," Seth said, "Doing the work that no one else wants to. Someone has to do it. There's no shame in that."

"Yeah, but then how are you supposed to become the world's greatest bounty hunter by only going after small fries?" Eli asked.

"I'm right here, ya know!" Ben shouted.

"Ah right, sorry," Cordelia said, "But you're kinda forgettable. What was you're name again?"

"Ben Nolan! You better remember it since I'm gonna be the one to collect on that 3,000,000 bounty on your head!"

"Dammit Bern," Cordelia grumbled, "You give me a bounty, but then it only attracts the idiots. What's the point if I can't even get a good fight out of it?!"

"Weren't you mad about Bern wanting the same thing back in Nube…?" Eli and Seth asked, sweat drops falling down their heads.

"This is completely different! I don't want to waste my time on people like Ban Nollet!

"It's Ben Nolan!"

"Same difference!"

"That's it! We're attacking now, boys!" Ben shouted, giving the signal to board the guild.

As the group of bounty hunters jumped onto the ship, a loud crash came from the main deck of the middle vessel.

"Sounds like there might be more hunters coming from the back," Seth said.

"I don't think it's hunters," Cordelia said, seeing a black ship far off in the distance, knowing exactly who it belonged to, "But they'll have to deal with whatever it is on their own for the moment. We need to take care of Bun Nokan first!"

"For the last time, it's Ben Nolan!" he shouted, pulling out a large machete to swing down on her.

"Bring it! Let's see if you can make me remember that name!" she shouted, calling out her Chaos Tanto to block the machete. The metal weapons connecting and echoing just as the other hunters clashed with the other mages around Cordelia.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from frozenwolf94 for Tazz:

**How in the world did you convince Chris to get on your bike in chapter three?**

**Tazz: **Finally! I get a question!

**Rio: **Don't waste our time and answer it then!

**Tazz: **There's no reason for you to be rude! Unless you want me knocking you out again!

**Rio: **You just got lucky!

**Watson: **More like you're an idiot…

**Tazz: **See! Watson gets it!

**Rio: **The only reason you're not getting blown away right now is because you're the writer and I'm pretty sure I'd get sued for it!

**Watson: **You're probably right *smirks deviously* I need that money to fix the elevators that Cordelia broke, so go right on ahead. Especially when I have an info broker that always sticks his nose into business that he shouldn't be and taking me for everything I'm worth!

**Tazz: **She seems kinda moody today…

**Watson: **You'd be moody too if there were suddenly contracts appearing that you don't even remember signing! OMG! I'm gonna make his life a living hell one of these da- *coughs in embarrassment* Well anyways, answer the question please.

**Tazz: **Oh, right! Well, it's not so much that I convinced Chris.

**Chris: **It's more like she forced me onto it. She always uses me to test out new stunts! It's not right! You could stop the madness, Watson!

**Watson: **I've got my own problems to worry about! Besides, it entertains me when she does things like that to you punks. I think she even had something new to try out today. Something about adding boosters onto those skates.

**Tazz: **Right! Let's go! *grabs Chris and Rio and runs off screen*

**Watson: **Just don't destroy anything else! I don't need that shady info broker showing up on my doorstep! *looks to audience* Well that's it for today! See you all again soon!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we go! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Ben Nolan - MyDearWatson**

Well, I was going to update this chapter before now, but Thunder Stone took over during the challenge, lol. And then with the last chapter of Thunder Stone, I was wiped out emotionally, so I ended up taking a break before I dove back in since I had to reset my mind frame for this story. But I still quite liked how the chapter turned out and with this chapter, we're getting closer to finding out that history between Duke and Madmartigan and even our first big flashback! CHA!

And this makes 4 chapters that Dread will have to match! So I suppose that's a decent number of them. I think that's what I usually average in these things when I have to go first.

But I'll be on vacation here this coming Friday, so I'm hoping to get some more chapters out then, but we'll see how things go. Depends on how much I like sitting out near that pool with a drink in my hand, haha!

Anyways, onto those lovely reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Momochan1277 - **Yep, Duke! We finally got to meet him! He'll be home soon, so it should be a happy reunion for all! And thanks for the new question! It's appreciated! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **I thought you might like that bit with Mac, lol. Yep, we're getting closer to learning that history! And more to come on that Dark Water. Haha, nope! Duke isn't dead! And I will say that Finn is for sure Cordelia's father. Cordelia has blue eyes like her mother while Duke has green eyes. So, no, he's not her father. But more will be explained on their history and everything soon. But I can see why you might think Duke could be her father. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Haha, glad you liked that opening bit with the bounties. And we've wasted no time in getting some bounty hunters in there, even if they're on the lower end of power level. Should still be entertaining though. Yep, Madmartigan is slowly losing it! And I'm glad you like the Dark Water concept too! I'm really liking it myself and all the history that will be behind it. And yep, we finally got to meet Duke! Reunion should be good for when he shows back up! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep, Duke finally makes his appearance! I had to string you guys along for a while with him and now we'll be right back to that string since we have to wait again for his next appearance! And you might be on the right track for that spirit of wishes, lol, so we'll have to wait and see. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **I thought the hammock sounded pretty awesome too. And as soon as I thought of it, I instantly pictured Seth in one, so it had to happen, lol. So I'm really happy to hear that you liked that first scene! Yeah, poor Ace having to catch Seth like that, lol. And that was lucky for Jay…until he passed out, poor guy, haha! And yep, I figured that most of them would be like, well whatever we'll take on anyone who tries to collect on our bounties. It seemed to fit them all pretty well. Whoops! Guess I missed fixing that name thing! T.T Haha, yeah…Eli, he's just…well he's Eli. We'll see his change over time though, but you might want to be beating him with anything within reach for a bit longer. Yep! We got to meet Duke! Glad you liked that last scene with him! I've been waiting so long to do that! You have no idea! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94: **You best be keeping Euclid out of Storm's Helm! They already have enough problems without adding the info broker into the mix! And I didn't just let Cordelia go rampant! You think I'm made of money too?! Tch! But I want no more deals with shady brokers! But yeah, Madmartigan is really beginning to lose it. It should be interesting to see how he is at the end of all of this. Those poor hydras and the lack of sweaters for them though! But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Glad you enjoyed the chapter! And that Dark Water certainly does make things intense, but jack was able to handle it fairly well. And yep, Duke! Bounty hunters to come in the future, as Ben and his men aren't the type that Cordelia and the guild need to really worry about. They're more for comic relief to help give a break from more of the intense stuff that's been going on. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **Yep! We finally got to meet Duke! And I wish I had been able to update Storm's Helm a bit more, but hopefully we should see some more updates since I'll be on vacation soon! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Yeah, everyone needs some down time every now and then, so it was time for Cordelia to get some! But yeah, Jay was just too adorable in that scene. Poor guy fainting like that, lol. Yeah, I'm sure Ajax will hate it even more when they get to the thunder island. And yep, we got to meet Duke! And I think you might have to wait longer than you think for Duke to come back, muwhahahaha! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**frozenwolf94 - **Yep, Madmartigan is definitely starting to lose it. I'm sure sending all his men in like this will come back to him in a bad way, but we'll have to wait and see how things turn out! And yeah, Duke has finally made his appearance! And yeah…that Q&amp;A…things are always going so wrong! T.T Haha, well I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you liked both of the past two chapters! So yeah, Cordelia gets to stay queen of the sirens. And yeah, Blackstroker's pose for the statue was based off of Captain Morgan, lol! More to come on the Dark Water. But I'm glad you liked that bounties scene, I thought most of them wouldn't mind getting one, lol. And I'm sorry to hear about your ankle! If I could send Jack to heal it, I would! And yep, Madmartigan is slowly losing it. And we got to meet Duke! All answers to come on him soon! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**mrady - **Well, it seemed all the early chapters came for Thunder Stone, but I'm hoping to get some early ones in during vacation, so we'll see how that goes. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	25. Drinking with the Enemy

**A/N: **BOOM! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 25: Drinking with the Enemy**

**April 14, X792 - Morning**

Swabbie had landed hard on the middle vessel of Storm's Helm, donning his standard rock armor. Tan rocks covered the areas that a set of plate armor would and included a crown styled helmet. All the mages on the deck jumped in surprise by his landing, but many of them took on defensive poses, prepared for the worst from the intruder.

"Who the hell are you?!" Aria shouted, gripping onto the handle of Hiryu, the katana being her usual go-to sword.

Swabbie didn't answer her with his name. Only a simple grunt of, "Map."

"He is here for the map," Alisa said, "That must mean he is from the Black Skulls."

The two women readied themselves for battle like everyone else on the deck, their bodies tensing up when Swabbie took a step forward. While he at first wore a determined look, his eyes quickly caught sight of a bottle of rum at one of the bar countertops. He changed his direction towards it, taking a seat at the bar and immediately began drinking from the bottle.

"Uhhh…" Aria began, unsure of how to react to the change of events. She looked over at Alisa, who wore a surprised stare as well, "Are ya sure he's from the Black Skulls?"

"I was fairly certain he was," she answered, keeping hold of her lead pipes just in case the man changed his mind, "What are you doing?" she hissed when she saw Aria approaching the man.

Aria ignored the blue haired woman as she began poking the man in his back with her sword, "Oi! Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Swabbie stopped drinking for a moment to glance back at the tall woman, "Are you a wizard…?" he slurred out.

"What the hell?! Half the bottle and you're already drunk?!" she shouted turning back to Alisa while pointing at Swabbie, "He seriously can't be someone that the weirdo captain sent after the map!"

Swabbie continued drinking the rum until the bottle was empty, "Another!" he said as he slammed down the empty bottle.

"Do you really think we'd just give you more of our alcohol?! Do you know what that cost us?! We had to use the master's dirty money to buy that!"

"Dirty money…you are honestly still going on about that?" Alisa questioned, but didn't wait for an answer from the sword mage, "Just give him another bottle. It will keep him busy long enough for us to figure out what to do in the mean time."

"Ugh! Fine! But if Cordelia gets mad at missing bottles, you're gonna take the fall for this one!" Aria said as she made her way behind the bar and pulled out a fresh bottle of rum. She pulled the cork to open it and slammed it down in front of the man. He took it without a second thought and began chugging it, causing one of Aria's eyes to twitch, "Ya know, the least you could do is say thank you!"

Swabbie stopped in the middle of a drink and eyed Aria up and down, "Ya know…I'd make…a damn sexy zombie…"

Aria stood in complete shock at his answer, her mouth dropping open as she watched the redhead continue his drinking, "What the fuck?!"

"Keep calm, Aria!" Alisa said as she ran behind the bar and held the younger woman back, "We must figure out what to do before attacking."

"Screw that! This freak is just fucking with us!" she shouted as she started swinging her sword around randomly, "I just want to chop his head off! That's all! So let me go! It won't take long at all!"

Swabbie looked up at the struggling women and with the straightest face said, "Where does…the lotion go?"

Chills ran up both of their spines and caused another outburst from Aria.

"See! I told you he was just fucking with us!" she shouted as she turned her glare on Swabbie, "And if you think I'd ever be with a woman like Alisa-"

Swabbie stood from his seat and bowed towards the lightning mage, "Alisa," he said in greeting before sitting back down and returning to his drinking.

Aria could only let out a shout of anger in response, making it harder for Alisa to keep her held back.

"Is it odd that I find his manners much better than your own, Aria?" Alisa asked, nodding at Swabbie in her own greeting.

"Don't nod at him! He's just some weirdo that happened to hear your name! Manners my a-"

Swabbie suddenly stood up and did the same greeting towards Aria after hearing her name.

"Just his head! I just want to chop off his head! That's all!" Aria continued after his greeting.

Alisa only rolled her eyes in response before they landed on Zinnia and Drayden who were running towards them.

"What's…uh…what's going on here?" Zinnia asked.

"What's going on is this freak of nature just showed up on the ship and started drinking our rum and talking about sexy zombies and lotion!" Aria shouted, causing the rest of the deck to sweat drop in response.

"I have no idea how to respond to that," Drayden said as he looked back at Alisa, "So what's really going on?"

"Dear Aria here is partially right, unfortunately," she answered, "He showed up looking for the map originally, so I do believe he is from the Black Skulls, not that we can really get a direct answer from him. The rum seems to be keeping him distracted though."

"I see," Zinnia said before a wide smile appeared on her lips, "Then I suppose the only thing to do is to drink with him!"

Aria stared at her in disbelief before letting out a shout of, "WHAT?!"

**. : + : .**

Eli was finishing up with the last bounty hunter while Seth and Matilda made sure the rest of them were tied up nice and tight.

"See, you put the rope through the loop and twist like so and then you should have two loops, so you pull the bunny ears really tight and that's how you capture an idiot!" Matilda rattled off as she tied up the last bounty hunter in her row.

"Just make her stop! Please!" the hunter cried.

Cordelia could only laugh in response as she looked down at their leader in front of her, "Seems you weren't able to make me remember your name, Bon-Bon Nokia," she said as she patted the top of his head, "But you did try your best, so that's something."

"For the last time, it's Ben Nolan!" he shouted as he tried to bite her hand.

"I think Bon-Bon suits you much better. You're about as tough as one," she snickered as she poked his cheek.

"What are we gonna do with them now?" Eli asked as he walked up to her, leaving Matilda to tie up the last hunter he had just finished with. They could hear that hunter crying as well while the navigator danced around him while singing about what she was doing.

"I'm not real sure at the moment. I was thinking of letting Matilda entertain them for a bit."

"Anything but that!" they all cried.

"Oh! But we could have such fun! I'll tell you about how I started out as a navigator and all the books I had to read. I don't get to talk to people about that often, you know, so it'll be great talking about everything!" she said as she tied off the last hunter. As soon as she was finished, she fell flat on her face, snoring instantly.

"Looks like they lucked out," Seth chuckled, "She'll be power napping for a few hours."

"Then we'll just leave them here," Cordelia said, "I want to check out what's happening on the main ship since we heard that loud crash."

"You're just going to leave them here like this?" Eli asked.

"Why not? I have Hagi below and I'm sure Sam will show up here soon. Plus, if they do anything to wake up Matilda, they'll be sorry. You do remember the last time that the other guys dared Ace to do that, right?"

Eli and Seth exchanged fearful glances, remembering exactly what had happened.

"Yeah, I suppose Matilda is the perfect watchdog at the moment then," Eli said.

"Let's get going then," she said, smiling back at Ben and the others, "All right Bon-Bon, I suggest you don't do anything stupid while we're gone. Or else you'll have to deal with my lovely navigator," she said with a snicker before walking off towards the main deck.

Soon enough, the trio had made their way to the middle vessel. They stared at the scene before them in surprise, seeing Zinnia dancing around on top of the bar top with a redheaded man, both holding a bottle of rum in their hands.

"Zi! What are you doing?!" Cordelia shouted as she approached the bar with Eli and Seth in tow.

"Having a party!" she answered while linking an arm with Swabbie's, "He's quite the dancer when he's drinking!"

"Who is he?"

"Don't know!"

"Didn't we have this talk before? You're not supposed to dance with strangers when you've been drinking. It never ends well…" Cordelia said, remembering the last time this exact chain of events happened.

"But he's such a cutie!" Zinnia said, poking the redhead on his cheek.

"You don't even know his name!"

"So? Have a drink with us!"

Cordelia stood there for a moment contemplating on what to do before she gave in with a shrug, "Why the hell not. Aria! Give me a bottle too!"

"What?! You're all fucking crazy!"

"Aren't you usually one for partying?" Cordelia asked with a smirk.

"Not when some guy is talking about sexy zombies and lotion!"

"Dear, I would suggest not saying things like that," Alisa sighed as she handed Cordelia a bottle of rum and a glass to go along with it, "We do believe he is from the Black Skulls, so I would be wary even if he seems like an idiot."

"I see. Still a party is a party!" Cordelia grinned before pouring herself a drink.

"What the hell, Cor?! Aria just said something about zombies and lotion and you want to have a drink with this guy?!"

"Seth doesn't seem to have a problem with it," she said, pointing back up to the pair on the bar to show that it was now a trio with Seth having joined in on their drinking and dancing.

"What the hell?! What are you doing?!" Eli shouted up at Seth.

"We're supposed to be having a party, right?"

"Not with the enemy! You always do this!"

"Just shut up and have a drink already!" Cordelia said as she shoved a full glass in his hand, "Besides, he'll do a good job of watching over Zi to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. Won't you, big guy?"

"Whoever this guy is, he's great!" Seth answered as the three of them started kicking in sync while they danced.

Eli's face fell in response while Cordelia started laughing. Eli finally gave in with a sigh before downing the drink in his hand.

"There ya go," Cordelia said as she refilled his glass, "I hope you know you still owe me a dance. I never got one at the last party."

"You want me to dance with you? Right now?"

"Why not? It's what the cool kids are doing," she said while pointing up at the still dancing trio.

"Look here, babe," he began with a smooth smile, "I've always been one of those guys to go against conformity. A rebel if you must label me."

"Rebels can dance too. Aren't you all able to secretly swoon girls that way?"

"I don't need completely awesome dancing skills to swoon the ladies. They might actually faint if I went that far."

"Then maybe we should find out if that's true."

"Could you please not flirt right in front of me?!" Aria shouted, "I'm already having a hard enough time dealing with the freak of a pirate dancing on our guild and drinking our rum!"

Cordelia and Eli both froze as heavy blushes covered their cheeks as the realization of what had been happening dawned on them. Luckily, the both of them were saved by Drayden stepping in after smacking Aria upside the head.

"So Zinnia mentioned that you wanted to see Alisa and myself," he said, looking over at Cordelia.

"Oh right!" she said, pulling out the rolled up map and handing it over to Drayden, "I want you two to go inland and look for the mirror the newest clue is talking about. It'll more than likely be on a beach since it talks about shores of glass. I figured you two could handle the island best due to your magic types, but just be careful all the same, especially with the map."

"I think we can handle that," Drayden answered, tucking the map away in his white coat, "I think Alisa and I will head out now while there's still a party going on," he added, Cordelia being able to picture the smirk he most likely wore under the cowl.

Cordelia smiled in return, "That's probably best," she nodded as she watched him and Alisa sneak their way away from the bar area to head towards the docks.

Off in the distance, loud and angry shouting could be heard coming from the black ship that Cordelia had spotted when Ben and his hunters attacked, causing Cordelia to laugh, knowing that the shouting had to belong to Madmartigan. The shouting affected Swabbie quite differently though, the man freezing up once he realized that he had forgotten his entire reason for coming onto the guild.

"Map," he grunted, bringing the dancing around him to a holt.

"Sorry about your luck," Cordelia said, "But it just left with my mages. Good luck getting it now."

Swabbie narrowed his eyes in response. Though he had enjoyed drinking with the lot of them, he had his orders, "Rock Armor: Heavy," he said, causing the standard armor he came onto the guild with to fall away. It was quickly replaced with thicker rocks which covered most of his body this time, the armor being the heaviest and most durable in his arsenal. Seth attempted to catch him before he got away, but Swabbie ducked and tried to land a hit on Zinnia.

"Shield Make: Knighthood!" she shouted, the shield appearing just in time to take the brunt of the hit. Though, the force of the hit still sent her flying off of the table.

Swabbie took the opening, jumping off of the bar with a heavy thud and running towards the first bridge he eyes landed on. He made a run for it, the bridge heading down towards the ship that the infirmary was located on. Without Cordelia having to bark orders, the group followed him, the guild master helping Zinnia up to her feet along the way.

"I don't think my Knighthood is going to hold up very well against him," Zinnia said as she recalled the shield, "But I have one that should work well enough. I just need someone to throw me in front of him."

"You're in quite the spontaneous mood today," Cordelia said with a smirk, "But all right. Seth, you heard her. Throw her in front of him."

"You sure about this?" he asked.

"Just do it!" the two women responded.

Seth nodded and picked up the brunette, spinning a few times to gain momentum before launching her across the guild. Zinnia shouted in delight at the feeling of flying through the air, but she quickly came back to the situation at hand when she saw she was passing over Swabbie. She flipped herself around in the air so she would land facing him.

"Shield Make: Spartan Soldier!" she shouted as she started to descend onto the deck. In her hands appeared a large and circular shield made of thick and heavy wood covered in a layer of bronze. As soon as she made contact with the deck, she braced herself for impact. In seconds, Swabbie collided with the shield, causing Zinnia to slide back a few feet at first before managing to bring him to a stop. She pushed against him for a few moments before letting out a shout and pushing forward with all her strength, managing to knock him off balance. She let out another shout as she moved forward to slam the shield against him. Though, with the heavy armor he wore, it didn't do much other than throw him back a few more feet. Luckily for Zinnia, this was enough for the rest of their group to catch up. Swabbie turned his attention away from Zinnia in an attempt to punch Cordelia, but he was blocked by the large shield again, "Oi! I was your opponent first!" she shouted, but still smiled at him nonetheless, "Don't tell me you already forgot about me!"

"Eli! Melt his armor!" Cordelia ordered.

Eli didn't waste any time igniting himself with his Green Fire and simply grabbed onto the man's arm. The heavy armor may have kept him protected against Zinnia's shield, but it did nothing against the melting affects of the acid-like fire.

"Aria! Cut him on his weak point now!" Cordelia said.

"My pleasure!" she grinned in response as she jumped over Eli to bring down the now flame engulfed blade of Hiryu on Swabbie's exposed arm. She managed to make a slice across it before he slammed his free hand into her stomach, causing her to ram into Eli, the two mages tumbling across the deck.

Despite the cut on his arm, Swabbie covered it back up with his rock armor and ran towards the two fallen mages. He brought down another fist towards them, Aria barely missing being smashed by it thanks to Eli pulling her backwards. The force of the hit was enough for his rock covered fist to break through the deck.

"Why is it always holes?!" Cordelia cried as she watched this process continue a few more times before Zinnia stepped in the way to block his fist again.

"We were just having a fun party. Why not forget about that map and have another drink with us?" Zinnia asked, causing Swabbie to falter at the offer. He stood seriously thinking about it until he remembered his captain's shouts, quickly returning to his previous assault. The heaviness of his hits and movements were beginning to seriously rattle the ship, Cordelia having to hold onto Seth at one point to keep herself from falling over.

"This dude is like a tank," Cordelia said as she straightened herself out, "Any longer on the ship and he'll tear it apart."

"You're not going to have them go onto the island, are you?" Seth asked.

"I was thinking at least the docks so the guild won't suffer any more damage."

"You know if that happens that there's a chance he can hunt down Alisa and Drayden. Plus, there's the lightning to worry about with the other three chasing him."

"Alisa and Drayden have a decent head start now, so they should be all right. And they'll have to chance the lightning to keep this dude at bay," she answered, "Besides, I'm sure Jack's not pleased with someone banging around on his ship. I'm sure his infirmary is at least a little messed up by now and I'm gonna be the one yelled at for it."

"So you'll send them off onto an island of lightning to make sure you don't get yelled at?"

"Maybe…but I wouldn't word it like that. More like they get to chase a pirate and beat him up in order to find glorious treasure!" she announced, striking a victorious pose.

"Well when you put it that way…" he said with a shrug.

"Exactly! Now let's get them moving along!" she said, turning to look at the other three mages who were still dealing with Swabbie, "Oi! Take the fight off the guild! Head towards the docks!"

While the three Storm's Helm mages stopped to look at their master, Swabbie took advantage of the moment and sped off towards the docks to hunt down the map.

"Well? Go after him!" Cordelia snapped, causing the three to jump into action, "And make sure you look after the girls, Eli!"

"HA! It's more like we'll need to look after his dumbass!" Aria shouted in return, earning a shout of protest from Eli and a laugh from Zinnia.

"See? Problem solved!" Cordelia said with a wide grin up at Seth.

Before he could answer her, part of the deck in front of them began to corrode away. A flash of black flew out from the hole first, quickly followed by Zhuue, the blonde having used her Corrosion Magic to create the hole. Cordelia and Seth stared at Zhuue in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Cordelia!" Jack shouted, having run up the stairs to the top deck as quickly as he could, "We have a huge problem! Where's Eli?!"

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It's the Dark Water! With all that commotion, the jar holding it fell and broke. I thought Zhuue's magic might have been able to destroy it, but it's quicker than I thought it would be!"

Cordelia's eyes went wide at this information, "What?! What do you mean the jar broke?! You were supposed to get rid of it!"

"I hadn't found the proper way to dispose of it yet!"

"I think that's something we can discuss later," Seth said, "We need to find it and get rid of it for now."

"Fuck!" Cordelia cursed, not knowing what else to do or say. She looked out over the ships to see a glimpse of the trio she sent after Swabbie running onto the island after the man. At least Eli was off of the guild for now. If there was one thing good about Dark Water it was the fact that it would never go too far on land. So as long as the trio kept after Swabbie, then Eli should be safe. A commotion coming from up on the crow's nest of the current ship they were on caught the group's attention. They looked up to see Squall in it seeming to fight off an invisible enemy. Cordelia's brow furrowed when she managed to catch another flash of black. She took off her coat and handed it over to Seth, "Take care of that. I don't need that journal getting damaged."

"Cordelia…can you handle this?" Seth asked.

"I'm the guild master. I have to handle this," she answered as she ran towards the mast that held the crow's nest. She climbed it quickly, ducking as Squall made an upwards tiger claw motion. This sent out a small storm of raging winds, courtesy of the Wind Magic she used, and caught the black flash within it. Cordelia looked back to see that it was indeed the Dark Water that was trapped within the winds, a shiver of fear running up her spine. Cordelia ignored her fear for the moment and turned back towards Squall, seeing the young girl's eyes lit up with her own fear, "Of all the crow's nests for you to be in today, this was the one you chose," Cordelia said, reaching out a hand towards the girl, "Come on. We don't have much time before your wind fades, right?"

Squall shook her head and grabbed onto Cordelia's hand, the guild master pulling her up and out of the nest.

"Good girl," she said just as she was about to climb back down the mast. The wind from the Squall's attack faded, allowing the Dark Water free movement again. The black liquid shot out in mid-air, aimed towards Squall still. Cordelia covered her though, the substance wrapping around her wrist.

'_Heretic! Winchester!'_

Cordelia froze up when she heard the hissing of the water when it touched her, sounding like multiple voices in one. The hissing turned into screaming, Cordelia feeling like she wouldn't be able to take it for long. She saw the substance readying itself to strike towards Squall again, having full intentions of taking them both down into the sea, "Squall! You'll have to jump, okay?"

Squall looked back with wide eyes, feeling unsure of Cordelia's orders.

"Just trust me, okay?"

Squall swallowed her fear and nodded at her.

"Good girl. I'll make sure to buy you a good dinner for today. Now…jump!"

Squall did as she was told, jumping away from Cordelia just as soon as the Dark Water attempted to grab her. Cordelia called out her Chaos Tanto and slammed it into the black water, hearing it cry out in pain as she did so, but it was enough to lock it into place long enough for Squall to get away, Zhuue catching her from below.

"You won't be taking anyone today!" Cordelia shouted despite the utter fright she felt.

'_Heretic! Winchester! Take Winchester!'_

"You won't be taking him either!"

'_You know Winchester! Take! Take!'_

"I'm done with this shit," Cordelia growled as she pulled out her blade and attempted to cut the water from her wrist, "Let the hell go!"

Before the blade could even touch the Dark Water, it released her wrist. The surprise of the action gave Cordelia no time to react, causing her to start falling towards the deck. Right in mid-air though, she was caught by the Dark Water again, causing her body to fly backwards towards the middle vessel. It slammed her against the bridge leading up to it, forcing her to cough out in pain and to drop her knife.

"Cordelia!" Seth shouted, throwing the coat and the journal within it down without a second thought.

"Seth!" she cried, fear of what was going to happen rising up in her. In her panicked state, she couldn't think of what to do other than to call out towards the man running after her and hope that he caught her in time. She tried to reach up and claw at the water in order to break free, but it only screamed out Eli's surname again, causing Cordelia to flinch in response.

The Dark Water raced up onto the middle deck, dragging Cordelia along with it and surprising the members of the guild. They watched as Seth ran up onto the deck right after her, looking more worried than they had ever seen him before. People began to dive for Cordelia after that in hopes of catching her, but the black liquid was able to dodge out of the way every time, pulling Cordelia up and down and sideways. She was continuously slammed into tables and chairs and boxes as the Dark Water made its way towards the back right corner ship that held the women's dorms. Cordelia began to panic more as she realized that they were coming to the end of the guild, knowing that it was only a matter of time before she would be dragged down into the ocean to drown.

"I'm not drowning!" she shouted, finding courage beneath her fear to try and struggle against the Dark Water. Though, it made quick work of her hands, tying them both together and then covering them in a black shell of liquid as it continued to pull her towards the edge of the boat, "Seth!" she cried again, hoping that he was close to catching her.

Seth had made it onto the deck of the women's dorms with his hoodie gone just in case he would need to use his magic. He saw Cordelia just as the Dark Water was making its way towards the edge of the ship, "Shit!" he yelled as he pushed himself harder to reach her in time. Though, the Dark Water was a step ahead of him and the liquid pushed itself from the edge of the boat.

"SETH!"

Cordelia shouting his name was the last thing he heard before the splash of water that signified the Dark Water had reached its goal.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from Momochan77 for Gamu:

**Besides Cordelia and Duke, who's your favorite person on the guild?**

**Gamu: **Can I show them instead of tell them?

**Watson: **Do you promise to come right back?

**Gamu: ***smiles widely* Of course!

**Watson: **All right. Bring them back here in no less than ten minutes.

**Gamu: **No problem! *runs off set*

**Watson: **Ten minutes, ya hear?! *sighs* Somehow I know I'm going to regret that…

**Four Hours Later**

**Watson: ***kicks door open to the Murdock home* OI! Gamu! Do you know what ten minutes means?! I've got my own shit to do, ya know!

**Gamu: **You finally came! I found my other favorite people!

**Regina: **Perfect timing! I just finished up some cookies!

**Seth: **I didn't know you were in the middle of an interview.

**Watson:** You were supposed to bring them back to the studio!

**Gamu: **I got…uh…I was…

**Watson: **Distracted…distracted is the word you're looking for. But for four hours?! Dammit!

**Regina: ***shoves cookie into Watson's mouth* Remember, no bad feelings in my home! Now, come and sit and eat!

**Watson: ***finishes cookie* Yeah, all right. I suppose it can't hurt. Can you at least tell the readers we'll see them next Sunday, Gamu?

**Gamu: ***perches on top of Seth's shoulder* Sunday! Next Sunday!

**Watson: **Close enough!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

So I really had a lot of fun with the beginning of this chapter. I'm pretty sure I laughed out loud a few times. And then of course we end with another cliffhanger! MUWHAHAHAHAHA!

I am updating this one a day early since I'll be heading home tomorrow from vacation and I'll be driving most of the day, so I wanted to get the chapter up early since I'm sure I won't feel up to writing tomorrow once I get home.

I did take a week off from writing after the challenge for numerous reasons, but things should be back to normal now.

And speaking of the challenge week, Dread and I wanted to let you all know that he didn't give up on his part of the challenge. Some things came up for him that didn't allow for him to write, so we moved his part of the challenge to another week. So when things are all set for him again, you should see those chapters that he is going to match.

I'll be forgoing the review responses for today as it's my last day of vacation and I want to enjoy it as much as possible (not that writing this story isn't enjoyable, but ya know…vacation, lol!). But as always, your reviews were as lovely and amazing as ever! Thank you for all of them and as always I enjoyed reading all of them! You guys really are the best! :3

So that should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	26. Gut Feelings

**A/N: **YAS! Finally! An update!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 26: Gut Feelings**

**April 14, X792 - Morning**

Seth didn't hesitate to run to the end of the boat when he heard the splash, knowing he would have to keep up his momentum if he wanted to be able to catch up to Cordelia and the Dark Water. He could see Cordelia just under the surface of the water being pulled along by the black substance still tied around her hands. He jumped off of the edge of the ship to follow the same path that his guild master had, the tattoo of a shark's fin he had on his right shoulder glowing as he did so.

"Chimera Shift: Mako!" he shouted, his skin tinting blue while a pair of dorsal fins appeared along his spine as well as pectoral fins along his forearms. As soon as he entered the water, this form allowed for him to swim at an extreme speed. He shot off in the direction that the Dark Water had gone, moving as fast as he could to reach it. He only had to come up for air once before he finally saw Cordelia just in front of him. He reached out for her when he was close enough, but just as his hand was about to wrap around her ankle, the Dark Water turned sharply and his hand grasped nothing but water. Though, he continued after Cordelia, catching a glimpse of the fear in her eyes in the process. If he already had to come up for air once, he knew that Cordelia was in desperate need of it. He let his adrenaline surge through him at that thought, allowing him to torpedo himself through the water in order to fully catch up with Cordelia.

Seth moved to wrap his arms around her from behind, successfully locking her in place and stopping the Dark Water in its tracks for a brief moment. That moment allowed for Seth to begin pulling them upwards, both of them inhaling deeply when they surfaced. Though, their moment of relief didn't last long as the Dark Water began its pulling again, forcing Seth to grip Cordelia tighter than he normally would, the large man almost fearing that he would leave behind a bruise on her waist from the strength behind it, but a bruise on her was better than letting the black water take her away.

"Get it off!" she shouted, trying to fight back against it. She was sure that between the pulling of the black liquid and Seth, her arm would pop out of its socket.

Seth made a grab for the Dark Water, attempting to pull it off of her hands. This only resulted in the water screaming out again and pulling at Cordelia even harder, causing Cordelia to cry out at the shouting she could hear from it. Before either of them could do anything else, the Dark Water pulled them under the water again, now dragging both of them through the ocean. Seth made sure to keep a tight hold on Cordelia though, knowing that he couldn't afford to lose her a second time. The pair rolled and tumbled through the water, Seth continuing to try and get the substance off of her hands. He felt a change in the pressure around them, realizing that the Dark Water was heading deeper into the ocean. If they went too deep, neither of them would be able to withstand the pressure, especially at the speed they were heading down. He put a stop to that plan as quickly as he could, fighting back against the black water to head back upwards towards the surface again.

In this process of struggling, Cordelia was whipped around until she was now facing Seth, but this seemed to help the pair out since it allowed her to wrap her legs around him to better secure herself along with throwing her tied hands around his neck. This let Seth free up one of his hands to help him lead them back towards the surface. The struggle continued between Seth and the Dark Water, but eventually the larger man won and broke to the surface again, both mages taking in large gulps of air.

"We have to get out of the water!" Cordelia shouted, "It'll just keep dragging us back down otherwise!"

Seth looked around them to see if there was anything to grab onto, but they were too far out from the guild and there was nothing but water around them. He knew of only one thing he could do, and despite the lightning in the air, he'd have to try for it. He kept his tight hold around Cordelia and concentrated his magic into another tattoo. It would take up a lot of his magic to have two tattoos going at once, but he wasn't paying that fact much mind at the moment. The wyvern tail on his lower back lit up and glowed just like the shark fin on his shoulder.

"Chimera Shift: Flying Fish!" he shouted. His blue tinted skin faded into a teal color and along side his fins grew an aquatic, reptilian-like pair of wings. The combo of the Mako and the Wyvern form allowed for him to continue swimming at high speeds, but now he could transition into the air and fly when needed. He expanded the wings out and flapped them once to get them up and out of the water.

Cordelia could hear the Dark Water screaming in protest from the distance being put in between it and the water, but she only clenched her teeth and ignored it for now, "Higher! Go higher!"

Seth nodded at her and began making his way high into the air, all the while struggling against the Dark Water as it tried to pull them back down into the ocean along with having to twist around the lightning bolts that continued to rain down around them.

"Please tell me you have a knife or something!" she yelled.

Seth could only make a face in return, one that told her that he didn't.

"Fuck! What are we supposed to do then?!"

"We'll need to make our way back to the guild so someone can help you get that stuff off of you."

"No! I don't want to risk anyone else getting caught in this!"

"It seems pretty stuck on you though. Even when I touched it to try and pull it off, it didn't react to me."

"I still won't do it!"

Seth sighed, unsure of what to do next and silently hoping that someone on the guild was smart enough to think of something to help them out.

'_Heretic! Take! Take!'_

The Dark Water's voice was slowly growing louder and Cordelia wasn't sure how much more she could take of the mix of shouting voices it produced through her mind. It was slowly breaking her down along with the two attempts of drowning her. The only things that seemed to keep her going was Seth's solid grip on her and the thought that Eli wasn't around for the black water to get to. But even with those thoughts, it still didn't help lift the weight that the Dark Water seemed to bring with it.

"I can't take it anymore! Get it off!" she screamed, trying to desperately pull her hands out from the black liquid. She could feel her skin becoming raw from scraping back and forth where it met from her hands being tied, but she ignored the dull, burning pain it brought as panic began to rise through her again. She was beginning to think that she wouldn't ever be able to get the water off from her hands and eventually Seth wouldn't be able to fight against it. He was already wasting a lot of magic by keeping up his combo spell, "Let go!" she yelled at the Dark Water, not knowing what else to do.

'_Ours! Take! Can smell heretic on you!'_

"I won't be taken anywhere! Let go!"

As Cordelia continued to fight with the Dark Water, she hadn't been paying attention to what her movements were doing to Seth.

"Cordelia! Stop moving around like that!" he shouted, trying his best to keep them out of the way of the bolts of lightning, having to twist and turn sharply in the sky, "You have to calm down so we can think of what to do!" he continued, looking back towards the guild to see Devin flying out towards them in his Angela form, "Look! We've got help coming, so calm down!"

"Get it off!" she cried, not really hearing anything Seth was telling her. All she was focused on was getting the Dark Water off of her in order to free herself and stop the screaming in her head.

"Cordelia! Stop thrashing around!"

She didn't hear him though as she continued to yank them around in her panicked state, "GET IT OFF!" she roared out as she pulled them hard to the left. This caused the pair to move directly under a lightning bolt, the flash taking over everything around them. Cordelia's roar turned into a shout of pain while Seth did his best to keep a hold of her while letting out his own shout during the extent of the strike. Though, this moment within the lightning caused the Dark Water to react to the electricity, loosening up around Cordelia's wrists. Devin was close enough to move in and see the Dark Water begin to move away from her hands, but stay circling around them. He took that moment to attack with his sword, igniting it in fire before slicing it up through the middle of her wrists and cutting the Dark Water in half. Once the strike had faded away, Cordelia and Seth began to fall back towards the ocean, her hands completely free of and moving away from the Dark Water.

"Sacred Fire!" Devin shouted, shooting out his angelic fire at the Dark Water before it could rush down and reattach itself to Cordelia. Devin wasn't sure if the black water disintegrated or was simply blown away during his attack, but it was no longer in sight when his fire faded. He then looked down to see the fallen pair floating in the ocean, the take over mage feeling surprised to see them both still conscious.

Both Cordelia and Seth had taken in damage from the lightning strike, the burn marks across their bodies proving that, but they had both managed to stay conscious when they dropped back into the water. Cordelia still clung tightly onto Seth, who had dropped his magic by now, and hid her face in his shoulder, her hair falling all around her and sticking to her. Seth kept his own hold on her, feeling a bit fearful still that the Dark Water would reappear. He then felt movement from Cordelia, the man looking down to see her body shake as her grip tightened on him. He quickly realized she was crying.

"Seth," Devin called down to him.

Seth waved the young man off though, telling him through the motion that he would swim them both back to the guild. Devin seemed to pick up on what he wanted and made his way back towards the guild.

"We'll stay out here for a moment longer," he said quietly, knowing she needed the time to recover from what just happened before facing everyone on the guild again.

"The lightning," she choked out in between her tears.

"It doesn't strike the same place twice, right? So let's just be optimistic about the situation for now," he said, earning a slight huff in laughter from her in between the sobs, "You just let out all your tears out here, all right?"

She could only nod against his shoulder in response as her sobs became heavier.

Seth let her cry her heart out and he continued to hold her in comfort, but even as he tried to concentrate on helping her, he couldn't help but wonder how Eli was going to react to all of this. He could only hope that the fire mage wouldn't lose his cool over it, at least for Cordelia's sake.

**. : + : .**

Eli, Zinnia and Aria continued their way onto the island, the trio having to dodge lightning as they moved along the pathway after Swabbie.

"Damn lightning! This annoying!" Aria shouted, "How do people even live on this island?!"

"Rubber houses," Zinnia answered.

"This is no time to joke!" Arai said.

"I'm being serious," Zinnia said, pointing towards colorful, rounded homes. When the lightning would strike down on them, nothing seemed to happen as the house took in the blast from the lightning.

"What the hell?!"

Zinnia chuckled in response before peering over at Eli to see a serious look on his face, "What's with frown?" she asked, "You're normally more gun-ho about going after the bad guys."

Eli's brows furrowed in response at first before he spoke, "I can't shake the feeling that something bad is happening."

"Did you see or hear something?" she pushed.

"No. It's more like a gut feeling," he answered, frowning down at her, "Something just doesn't feel right."

Zinnia was quiet for a moment as she thought about his response. Soon enough though, a smile came to her face, "Well, I wouldn't worry too much. There are plenty of mages left on the guild if something goes wrong. I mean, it's not like anything serious is really going to happen. You had those bounty hunters tied up before we left."

"I don't think it has anything to do with the bounty hunters," Eli said lowly.

"Whatever it is, if it even is anything, I'm sure Cordelia and the others can handle it, so don't worry. What can go wrong? Besides, we have our own orders to follow at the moment anyways."

"I suppose," Eli said, still unable to shake the horrible feeling in his gut.

"There he is!" Aria shouted, bringing their conversation to an end. The other two looked up to see Swabbie just a ways ahead of them, the pirate having no trouble moving through the lightning thanks to his rock armor.

"We need to work as a team like we did on the guild," Zinnia said, "So you two can get a bit more wild this time around, just watch out for the lightning and any civilians that might be nearby. I'll move in first," she said as she picked up her speed. She dodged a couple of bolts, using one of the last strikes to boost her speed as it busted up the ground around where it struck. Zinnia jumped onto a chunk of earth that had been sent flying towards Swabbie. She soared ahead of the other two, jumping off of the piece of earth and twisting in the air to land in front of Swabbie with her Spartan styled shield at the ready. She clenched her teeth and tensed her muscles together to prepare herself for impact. She didn't have to wait long for the redhead to slam into her shield, Zinnia sliding back across the ground once again like she had done on the guild.

"Map," Swabbie grunted as he continued to push Zinnia forward.

"Sorry cutie, but I have my orders to stop you," Zinnia said with a flash of a smile.

Swabbie seemed a bit thrown off by her reaction, causing him to stop his movements forward.

"All right! Eli, it's your turn!" Zinnia shouted.

"Green Fire's Sliding Strike!" Eli said as he came down on Swabbie. His fist hit the top of the redhead's back, quickly melting through the rock that covered his skin. Eli then made a downwards swiping motion, leaving behind a line of the green fire to continue melting through the armor on his back.

"Now Aria!" Zinnia said.

"Hell yeah!" the young woman said, smirking as she brought down her fire ignited blade down across his open back. Blood flew up from the attack, the skin around the cut being burned from her fire.

Swabbie let out a loud grunt of pain as his back arched up from the attack before he slumped forward, "Map," was all he said as he forced his armor to cover up the weak spot on his back. He started moving forward despite the pain he felt from the wounds now on both his arm and back.

"I don't think so," Zinnia said, shouting as she moved forward and rammed her shield against him.

"Move," Swabbie said, hoping that the woman would move out of his way. He genuinely didn't want to hurt her, especially since she had treated him so nicely back on the guild, but he also had a job to do. He frowned when her only answer was to continue pushing him back. He then slammed into the shield with his shoulder, the forced behind his hit being enough to have Zinnia stumbling backwards. Swabbie didn't waste any time moving in again with another attack, punching the shield dead center. Zinnia went flying backwards a few yards from his sheer strength. She skidded to a stop on her back, her eyes going wide when she saw a lightning bolt coming right down on her. Luckily she had been able to keep her hold on her shield and that it was big enough to cover her body when she curled up under it. The lightning struck the shield just as she finished pulling her feet under it, the metal layer on it taking in most of the bolt.

While Zinnia dealt with protecting herself, Eli and Aria attempted to move in on the pirate again. Eli tried to make a grab for the same arm that they had wounded previously, but Swabbie turned on him much quicker than he expected, grabbing onto Eli's wrist with one hand while sending his free hand into the fire mage's gut. Eli coughed hard as he was sent flying backwards much like Zinnia had. As his body slammed onto the ground, a bolt of lightning went off a few feet away from him, chunks of earth being ripped up and sent towards him. He could only cover his face as they came raining down on him.

Aria charged in next. She knew that her fire wasn't hot enough to burn through his rock armor like Eli's was, but she still had to try something. She aimed for the few spots that weren't covered by rock. She managed to hit a couple of them, but it did nothing but give him small slices on those spots, and while they were annoying for the pirate, it wouldn't be enough to stop him in the slightest. In the next attack she made, Swabbie dodged to the side and brought down his fists onto her back, instantly knocking the air out of her along with breaking a few bones, Aria was sure, considering how much her body hurt when it ricocheted against the ground.

Swabbie looked around at the three, unmoving mages, and when he was satisfied that they wouldn't be getting back up, he began his trek to get the map again.

"Don't think we're finished that easily," Eli said as he rose up from the rubble that covered him. He wiped a hand across his mouth to clear away the blood that had been trickling down from the corner of it.

Swabbie looked back at him, genuine surprise in his eyes. No one had ever gotten back up from one of his direct hits. He had to really wonder who these people were that they could so easily stand back up from his attacks.

Though Eli was able to stand back up, he did sway a bit from the damage that hit had done to his body externally and internally. He was certain that Jack was just going to be thrilled when they got back to the guild. And with the thought of the guild crossing his mind, that gut wrenching feeling returned tenfold. Eli looked back towards it, knowing that something was definitely off, but he just couldn't place what it was. All he knew was that he needed to get back to the guild as quickly as he could.

He turned back to face Swabbie once again, seeing the redhead beginning to walk towards him to initiate another attack, "Oi! Zinnia! Grab Aria and get ready!"

Swabbie looked over to see Zinnia pop out from her shield unharmed by the lightning. He couldn't understand how they could be getting back up, even the sword mage he had slammed in the back had begun moving to get back up on her knees before Zinnia ran to grab her and pull her out of the way.

"Good luck getting out of this one," Eli smirked, "Green Fire's Acid Torrent!" he shouted, throwing out both hands to send out a huge torrent of the acidic green fire at the pirate. Swabbie held his ground, throwing his arms up to shield himself from the attack. The fire completely covered his body, quickly melting away all of his armor. When the spell had faded, Swabbie looked down to see that he no longer had any defense to protect him, "Aria!"

"I got it!" she shouted, forcing herself to charge the pirate again, "Break my bones will you, you freak of a pirate!" she said as she made a quick 'X' mark across his chest. The flames on her blade once again burned his skin while the marking dug into his skin and had blood flying outwards as his eyes widened and he fell backwards onto the ground. Aria dropped down to her knees again once her attack was over, whatever damage Swabbie had done to her starting to hit her all over again.

Zinnia walked up to Swabbie with a sad smile, "Sorry we had to be so rough with you, but you didn't really give us a choice. But I really did like partying with you. Maybe once all of this is over, we can have a drink together again," she said before slamming her shield into his head and promptly knocking him out. She then began moving his body into a scrunched position in order to cover him with her shield.

"What are you doing?" Eli asked.

"Well, we can't let the poor guy get struck by lightning, now can we?"

"We can't?"

"No," she huffed at him, "He was following his own orders like we were following ours. It wasn't really his fault."

"But he-" Eli started until another wave of worry and bad feelings hit him, "Whatever. Do what you want," he grumbled, "I need to get back to the guild."

"We should continue forward to help out Drayden and Alisa with the clue."

"I did what I came onto this island to do," Eli retorted as he helped Aria stand back up, "Besides, she needs to see Jack as soon as possible."

"Are you really that worried about the guild? You do understand that all five S-Class are back on the guild along with Cordelia, right?"

"I don't care. Something doesn't feel right and I'm going with my gut feelings this time," Eli said as he began the trek back towards the guild with Aria leaning against him, "Do what you want though. I'll let Cor know if you decide to go help the other two out."

Zinnia sighed. While she could understand following your instincts, they also had a job to finish up, "You do that. I want to make sure the other two are able to figure out the clue."

Eli simply nodded in response before the two parted ways, neither parties really ready for what they were about to walk into.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

I know it was a fairly short chapter this time around, but I wanted to get something up after making you wait so long! I had wanted to get this chapter finished yesterday, but it just didn't quite happen with getting the TS chapter completed along with having to do a few things yesterday as well. But we should be back on track now with things, especially after that bout of writer's block I had along with One Piece sorta taking over for a while, haha! But never fear! I have been planning things during this time period still, so it's not like I completely stopped working on things all together. I actually was able to work out more of the upcoming arcs thanks to Dread and a few of you readers, so that really helps me out a lot with future planning. So big things to come! CHA! Next chapter should be longer though!

And along with the short chapter, I'll be forgoing my usual question corner and review responses since it's so late and I still have to edit and I really just want to get this chapter up for you guys already. So once again, we'll be back to normal after this chapter for both stories!

But as always, I do appreciate all your reviews and support! I seriously love all the reviews I get and they always make me smile! And we're even over 400 reviews now! Holy crap! You're all just so awesome! :3

On another awesome note, CryptozoolgyConundrum made an awesome fanart for the story! I know they uploaded it on photobucket and it should be under Oh Captain My Captain Eli and/or Cordelia (either name should work when you're looking it up), if you want to check it out. I think they mentioned that they were also going to put it up on deviantart, but I know for sure it's on the photobucket site. It's totally awesome and I was super excited to see it! So thanks again so much for making that!

So that should be it for this time around. Again, next chapter should have the usual question corner and review responses! Promise!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	27. Silver Bullet

**A/N: **WHOO! Storm's Helm Sunday!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 27: Silver Bullet**

**April 14, X792 - Morning**

"Are we even going the right way?" Drayden asked as he ran along a pathway next to Alisa, "We haven't seen a single beach much less one with mirrors."

"That boy back in town said this was the way we needed to go," she answered, "And we do not have much choice but to trust him. The people who live here know the island better than we do."

"I suppose that's true, but I still think we should've seen something by now."

"Just keep running. I am sure that this island cannot be overly large. It is the second smallest island within the country of Caelum, so we should be coming up to the beach soon."

Drayden didn't say anything further as they continued down the path they had been directed to. Neither of them bothered dodging any lightning bolts that happened to strike down at them, both of them being more than capable of dealing with the bolts due to their magic types. It made it easy for them to continue in a straight line towards their destination. The beach they had been directed towards was simply named Glass Beach due to all the glass that was created by the lightning striking the sand. They had both agreed that this was mostly likely the beach they were looking for. Though, for a long while, Drayden was sure that they had been given bad directions or the beach didn't exist until they finally ran up a small hill where sand began to take over the land. The two eventually came to a stop at the top of the hill, standing near a wooden sign.

"Looks like this is the right place," Drayden said, pointing to the sign that read 'Glass Beach'.

"I believe you are correct," Alisa said, looking out across the beach. In all shapes and sizes were glistening pieces of glass, a few of them even standing straight up from the sand in circular shapes with jagged edges.

"The clue said something about a mirror among mirrors," Drayden said as they began walking across the beach, "But this is all just random glass, not mirrors."

"It appears we will just have to start testing out all this glass then. From what the clue said, it sounded as if we would be able to go through one of them in order to reach a relic of water."

A flat look crossed Drayden's face at her proposal, "Yeah, because that's gonna be an easy feat. Look how many we have to go through."

"I propose we start looking through them instead of complaining about things," she said with a sharp stare aimed his way, "Unless you would like to be the one to explain to Cordelia why we did not even attempt to look for the required mirror."

"Tch, no," he grumbled, "Let's start with the larger ones at least. Those are the most mirror-like ones here."

Alisa nodded at him and the two began to travel from glass piece to glass piece. Though, things appeared normal to them. Nothing out of the ordinary about any of the pieces stood out and they couldn't step through any of them. Alisa made sure not to give up though as she kept the two of them moving across the beach. And thanks to her determination, the two eventually made it towards a large piece of glass that stood up straight like many of the other larger pieces, but what was unique about this glass piece was the fact that its edges were smoothed, creating an elongated oval shape.

"We might have found a winner here," Drayden said as the two walked up to it. They each exchanged a quick glance before Drayden lifted his hand towards the glass. Instead of feeling the cool press of glass against his palm, the two watched in amazement as his hand slid through it. Alisa peered around the glass to see if his hand came out on the other side of it, but there was nothing.

"Yes, I do believe we have a winner," she said, smiling back at Drayden.

"Too bad you two ain't gonna be going through it," a voice said from behind them. The two turned to see a man wearing an eye patch and a dark smirk.

Drayden picked up on the Black Skull symbol on the eye patch, remembering what Jay had told him about the first pirate that had attacked them from the Black Skulls. He looked over at Alisa with a worried glance, "I think this guy is Daniel Sierra from the Black Skulls."

"Oh! I'm beginning to get a reputation then," Daniel said, having the gun that held his black bullets aimed at them, "It's good to hear that I haven't been forgotten. But then the bad news is that this is where your mission ends and I take back the map."

"Like we're just gonna hand over the map to you," Drayden retorted.

"Tch, you remember my name, but not what I can do. Let me give you a quick refresher course then," he said as he shot off a bullet. It flew through Alisa's upper, left arm, causing her to grab it in pain quickly. In anger she moved to send out an attack at him, but nothing happened. She tried again and again, but she couldn't get a single spark to ignite from her fingers, "That bullet cancels your magic for a while. Be grateful that I only hit your arm and hand over the map."

"Shit, this is bad," Drayden said, stepping up in front of Alisa now that she didn't have her magic.

"I can still fight," she hissed from behind him, "Lead pipes still make for good weapons even if I cannot use my magic with them at the moment."

"But your arm."

"Simply a flesh wound."

"Hand over the map or I'll make it more than just a flesh wound," Daniel growled, becoming irritated with his demand still being ignored.

Drayden narrowed his eyes at the man, "Astral Body!" he shouted, his blue lightning taking over his body to increase his speed. He ran towards Daniel, aiming to slam him down where he stood. Daniel managed to slide to the left to dodge the lightning mage, but while he kept his focus on what he believed to be his more dangerous opponent, he let his guard down when it came to Alisa.

She had appeared beside him when he made his dodge, slamming one of her pipes into his side before slamming the second one into his stomach. He coughed hard from the hit to the gut, the pain keeping him distracted long enough for Alisa to slam both pipes against his back. He dropped to his knees from the attack, trying hard to get his breathing under control from the blows he was dealt.

"We are not useless just because you take away our magic from us," Alisa said lowly as she raised her pipes up to deal the final blow on the man.

As she began to bring down the pipes, Daniel was quicker and pulled out the gun that was located on his front side. In a split second, he lifted it and pulled the trigger. A silver bullet ran straight through both pipes, successfully splitting them in half, the broken pieces thumping down into the sand. Alisa stared at her broken pipes in shock as Daniel started laughing.

"My silver bullets can puncture even the thickest of metals," he said as he stood back to his feet, aiming the gun right at her head, "So if they can do that to metal, just think of what they'll do to your skull!"

Just as Daniel was about to pull the trigger, he was hit in the back by a shot of blue lightning. He shouted out in pain, giving Alisa time to move away from him. Daniel managed to stay standing, despite the damage that had been done. With his body still smoking after the attack, he turned to see Drayden glaring at him with his hand in the shape of a gun.

"You're not the only one that knows how to shoot a gun," Drayden said, "And I don't even have to reload mine. You think you can handle a second Lightning Bullet?"

"Don't get in my way, boy," Daniel growled as he put away the gun with the black bullets to pull out the one carrying his white bullets. He then aimed both guns he currently had in use at Drayden. The lightning mage prepared himself for the attack, not knowing what the newest gun Daniel had pulled out could do, "Let's see who's bullets are stronger!"

"You're on!"

Daniel shot off the gun carrying the white bullets first while Drayden let off a bullet of his blue lightning.

"Drayden, you idiot!" Zinnia shouted as she came flying down to stand in front of Drayden with a new Spartan Soldier shield at the ready. She made it just in time to block the bullet, hearing it clank and sink into her shield before she turned to face Drayden, "Do you even know what that kind of bullet can do?!"

"Well…no, but-"

"A white one will paralyze you, even with the slightest of grazes. He got John with it last time. You should be more careful."

"He was going to shoot Alisa in the head! What else was I supposed to do?!"

"Well, I guess it was a good thing I listened to my instincts and came here after fighting off the other guy."

"I knew Swabbie would fail in the end," Daniel said with a smirk, "That's why the captain sent me out here in order to have some backup for that drunk, and it looks like it was the right thing to do."

"You failed in your mission too, remember?" Zinnia said, staring flatly at the man.

"Eli and Aria were fighting too, correct?" Alisa asked after appearing beside the other two, "Where did they go?"

"Alisa got hurt and Eli took her back to the guild," Zinnia answered, deciding they didn't need to know about Eli's real reason for heading back to the guild, "But have you two figured out the clue yet?"

"Partly," Alisa said, "We found the right mirror, but then this man showed up before we could enter it."

"I see," Zinnia said, "Well then, I'll keep him busy while you two finish what you came here to do."

"We can't just leave you out here on your own!" Drayden said.

"It's just one guy, what could go wrong? Besides, you have your orders to figure out the clue. That's more important right now. I have enough defenses to be able to deal with this guy."

"But-"

"She is right, Drayden," Alisa said, "We have a job to finish and since she is here to deal with the pirate, we can continue that job."

"Fine, even though it doesn't sit right with me, we'll go take care of the clue," he said, "But we'll be as quick as we can in order to come back to help you."

"I appreciate the thought, but I'll have this guy finished off before you get back."

"You think it's going to be that easy?!" Daniel shouted.

"Why, yes I do," Zinnia smiled at him, "While you might have specialized bullets, they mean nothing against my shields."

"So you're the bitch that put up the shield when I made my first attack!"

"Yeah, that's me, but calling me names like that is only gonna end with you getting hit harder than I had originally planned to do," she said before looking over at Alisa and Drayden, "What are you waiting for? Get going!"

"They ain't going anywhere!"

Zinnia jumped in front of them as the two took off running towards the smooth mirror, blocking the bullets Daniel had fired off, "You keep wasting bullets like that, you're not gonna be left with anything to fight me with," she said with a giggle.

"And by the way," Alisa said after Drayden had stepped through the mirror and she was about to follow him, "Your manner of speaking is atrocious! You really need to hire a tutor and have that fixed!"

Daniel let out a shout of anger as he shot off a white bullet towards her. Alisa was quickly pulled backwards by Drayden while Zinnia made an attempt to block the bullet. This time though, the bullet's trajectory was simply changed by her shield, the bullet now heading towards the bottom of the mirror. It hit the stem of glass that held it up, breaking it in half and sending it crashing towards the ground; and because other pieces of glass littered the ground, it smashed into pieces when it made contact with the glass filled sand.

"No!" Daniel shouted, knowing he wouldn't be able to follow in after them now that the gateway was broken.

Zinnia stared worriedly at the broken pieces, wondering how the other two were going to make it out of wherever they had gone to now. Though, the smashed pieces also brought her relief since Daniel really wouldn't be able to get to them now. She looked back at him with a small grin, "Looks like you lose again. I wonder how your captain will feel with you returning empty handed twice now."

Daniel turned his glare on her, and without a second thought, he shot off a silver bullet at her. All the other bullets she had blocked had been white ones, so Zinnia was unaware of what a silver bullet could do. It easily sunk through her shield and into the skin of her abdomen. A painful stinging sensation rose up through her as the bullet ripped through her body until it came out from her back and into the sand behind her. Her eyes widened when she felt that pain and felt blood dripping from the wound and down her leg. She had to look down to prove to herself that she had just been shot, and when her eyes landed on the blood spreading across her clothing, she fell to her knees as the pain began to take over. She dropped her shield and grabbed for the wound, not knowing what else to do aside from trying to put pressure onto it. And then her constant words of 'what could go wrong' from earlier that day repeated in her mind, almost making her laugh at the turn of events.

Daniel walked up to her, pressing the barrel of the gun with the silver bullets against her head, "Looks like you got too cocky. Even if I can't bring the map back with me, at least I can tell my captain that I took out one of you shitty Storm's Helm mages."

And just as he was about to pull the trigger to end her life, he was once again interrupted as Swabbie came crashing down in between him and Zinnia. The armor mage quickly knocked the guns from his hands before punching him in the gut and sending him flying back several meters. Despite the wounds he had received earlier, he was fitted in his heavy armor again and stood standing tall in front of Zinnia.

"Swabbie?" Daniel said, coughing from the blow to his gut. Once he got his breathing back under control, he stood properly and glared at his fellow pirate, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Stopping you."

"Oh don't tell me you've got some heart of gold bullshit going on now."

"You never think things through," he said lowly.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You kill her and it'll start a war."

"You're just a drunk. What do you know?"

"She's close to her guild master. That makes it too dangerous to kill her right now."

"You better not be trying to save her or something."

Swabbie only frowned at Daniel, knowing he would have to prove himself somehow to the man. He then turned to look down at Zinnia, his frown deepening upon seeing the gunshot wound on her. He gave her a look that he hoped showed his apology towards her before he slammed a rock covered fist against her head, promptly knocking her out, "There," he grunted as he picked her up from the ground, "We take her in with us."

"To do what?"

"Questioning," he simply answered, hoping it would be enough to get Daniel off of his back. He ignored Daniel's shouts as he began walking back towards the direction their ship would be in. Now he could only hope that he could get to Mingo first before Madmartigan saw Zinnia or caught wind of what had happened on the island.

**. : + : .**

Eli had finally made it back to the guild and had just dropped Aria off at the infirmary when he noticed people running across the guild towards the back end of it where the dorms were. As a few of them passed him, they gave him worried and nervous glances before continuing on their way. The gut wrenching feeling from earlier returned tenfold and he began to follow where everyone else was running to. He eventually made it back towards the women's dorms where there was a large crowd forming. He noticed Isaak at the front of the crowd, seeing a serious look across his face as he stared down over the edge of the ship. It quickly dawned on him why he looked so serious when Cordelia and Seth came up over the edge of the ship, both of them looking worse for wear while Cordelia's eyes were red from crying.

In an instant, Eli was making his way through the crowd, not caring that he was practically pushing people out of his way, "Move!" he eventually boomed, causing the guild to go quiet and people to quickly move out of his way. A path was created for him, allowing Cordelia and the others to see him as well. He frowned when Cordelia seemed to look away from him quickly when she made eye contact with him. He walked right up to her and forced her to turn and face him, "What happened?"

"I…I just fell into the water. That's all," she said quietly, not being able to look up at him.

"You're lying," he said, looking up at Seth and Isaak, "What happened?"

The two men exchanged glances, trying to decide if they should really tell him or not.

"Someone better tell me what the hell happened right now!"

"Don't yell at them," Cordelia said, still in a quiet voice, "It…it was the Dark Water."

Eli stood in silence as he pieced together what might have happened. Somehow the Dark Water got free from the jar and it had attacked her and dragged her out to sea. And considering Seth matched her appearance, he guessed that he had been the one to save her. Eli's brow furrowed as anger started to fill him. He ran a hand through his hair as he started to pace in the small, open area of the crowd. He eventually let out a grunt of anger before he started talking, "I knew this would happen! I told you to get rid of that shit earlier and now look what happened!"

"I…I know," she said, shrinking away back towards Seth. While she was normally able to hold her own in an argument against Eli, after having just dealt with the Dark Water, she had no energy to put up a fight. That, and she knew he had a point. If she hadn't brought the Dark Water onto the guild, then all of this could have been avoided.

"Is that right? You know? Then why did you bring it onto the guild in the first place?!"

"Okay, that's enough," Isaak said, stepping in front of Eli, "You already said your piece when you found out about this and she's already paid the consequences for her actions. There's no need to go throwing it in her face over and over again. She didn't know that the jar was going to break."

"Don't try to be the hero now, Marzell," the fire mage said, heat beginning to radiate off of him.

"Well someone has to be when you become irrational like this."

"I'm irrational? I wasn't the one that brought the Dark Water onto the guild in the first place!"

"You need to stop blaming her for this entire thing. It's you that the Dark Water is after, isn't it? It's your fault that she's been caught up in this."

"You little card punk! You shouldn't talk about things that you don't understand!"

"But I'm right, aren't I?! Because of you, she's in this situation!"

"That doesn't change the fact that she brought it onto the guild! And what good did it do other than almost drowning her?!

"Stop! Stop!" Cordelia shouted, not being able to take their argument anymore. Both men stopped their arguing and looked down towards her, "Just stop it already," she said, giving them one last, sad stare before walking off towards the head ship, people moving out of her way as she did so.

"Well," Seth began when she was out of sight, "You both just made that much worse than it needed to be. She was already drug across the guild and through the ocean by the thing that scares her the most. Isn't that enough?"

Eli and Isaak stared at Seth for a moment before sighing heavily, knowing they had both just screwed up.

"You should go apologize to her," Seth said, looking at Eli, "And I mean a real apology, not some half assed, backwards comment that's meant to be an apology."

"I don't know why I need to apologize. She shouldn't have brought that stuff onto the guild."

"I don't care anymore on who should have done what. We can't go back and change what happened. We just deal with it and move on, and we need to move on with this instead of constantly hanging it over her head, got it?"

Everyone stared at the large man in slight fear, not used to seeing him angry about much, so Eli knew he meant business by the way he spoke to him now.

"Fine, I'll go talk to her," he said before walking off.

"You better apologize!"

Eli simply waved a hand back at Seth to show that he heard him as he continued forward towards the head ship. Once he was off of the women's dorm ship, it was fairly easy to get to his destination since most of the mages had made their way to the back of the guild. He quickly found himself on the top deck of the front ship, seeing Sam point down below deck with a frown, the boy already knowing why Eli was there. Eli gave him a nod before making his way below deck. He checked her office first, but the room was empty. The only other place she could be was her personal quarters. He walked a few feet down from the office and as he approached the door that led into her room, he could hear her crying through the door, causing him to internally groan, mostly because he was partly to blame for it now. Not being able to hear her crying for long, he knocked on her door.

"Go away."

"Cor, let me in."

"I'm fine, so go away."

"Obviously you're not fine," he said, staring flatly at the door, "And if you don't let me in then I'm going to burn down the door. Do you really want that?"

There was silence for a short moment before he heard her walk towards the door and yank it open. She tried to glare up at him, but it didn't have the affect it usually did since her eyes were still filled with the tears she had just been crying.

"What do you want? Come to tell me off some more?"

"No. I came to apologize."

She stared at him in surprise for a moment before her previous attempt of a glare crossed her face again, "Only because Seth told you to do it."

"Does it matter why I'm doing it? All that matters is I'm here now."

Cordelia could only roll her eyes in response before turning away from the door. Though, she hadn't slammed the door in his face, so Eli took this to mean that he was allowed to come into her room.

"Well? Get to it," she said, keeping her back facing him while she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Eli sighed lightly at her reaction, "Even though I still feel like I had good reason, I'm sorry for going off on you like that. But how else was I supposed to react after you told me what happened and with how you looked?"

"This has to be the crappiest apology ever. There was no reason to basically say 'I told you so' in front of everyone like that," she huffed, "I'm supposed to be the guild master here. How do you think it makes me look when you say things like that?"

"I don't care about titles when it comes to Dark Water because it doesn't care about them either. Even if you were a queen," he began, but was quickly interrupted by Cordelia pointing towards the siren marking on her arm. Eli could only stare flatly at the back of her head for a moment before continuing, "Even if you _are_ a queen, it doesn't care. It'll still try to take you down."

"Still, you could have at least waited to say something until we were behind closed doors. If I had been the one yelling at you, you would have hated it."

'You yell at me all the fucking time,' he thought, deciding it was better to keep that thought to himself for the moment, "Look, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you or upset you," he said as he began moving towards her, "But I couldn't control myself when I found out what happened. If you had been killed because of the Dark Water, then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. Isaak was right about that. It would have been all my fault and I wouldn't be able to live with that kind of guilt," he explained as he came to a stop right behind her before forcing her to turn around to face him, "Don't you get it? I would feel anger and sorrow for anyone that would be killed by the Dark Water, but if it's you, I won't be able to handle it. That's why I react the way I do."

Cordelia watched him for a long moment, seeing that he was being genuine in his words through his eyes, "My promise," she said quietly, "I'm still keeping it."

"Cor," he started with a sigh.

"To stop the Dark Water from taking you, I'm still keeping that promise!"

He stood quiet for a moment, surprised by how strong and determined she sounded in her declaration. A warm smile appeared on his lips as he pulled her in for a hug, feeling her arms wrap around him tightly in return, "Okay," was all he said and was all that needed to be said.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

I really enjoyed this chapter even with all its ups and downs! But Zinnia! What's gonna happen now?! Talk about these cliff hangers, haha!

I'll be bringing back the Question Corner next chapter though. I need to find my list of questions and it's a bit late, so in order to save some time, I'll get that started up again next chapter. But we will have the review responses as per usual once again!

So thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And the other characters will be making appearances soon. Just had to get through the stuff that's going on at the moment. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Haha! Always gotta keep you readers on your toes with these updates! And Swabbie might have failed in that first fight, but he definitely came back for the win in this chapter! But I think Zinnia getting shot like that amounts to sinister, no? Well anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **CHA! I'm glad you liked that opening scene! I was really hoping that it would turn out well and it seemed that you all liked it, so I must have done something right, lol. But yas! I finally got to do the combo ability with Seth! I've been wanting to do that since you gave me his character! So I'm glad that it turned out well for you. And I'm glad to hear that Seth is still turning out so well for you in general too! And I'm glad you liked Swabbie's fight too. That Dark Water…we might be waiting a bit to find out the full story on it. I'll keep pulling you all along with it though until that point, haha! But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yep, for the moment, the biggest threat is the Dark Water, but just wait until we move further along in the story. Oh man! The things that are planned! Yeah, I think Swabbie would enjoy partying with the guild more than fighting them, but orders are orders. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**potentialauthor18 - **Haha, yeah, you'll find those cliff hangers happen more often than not. And the Dark Water is dealt with…for the time being anyways. But yeah, Swabbie is kinda tank. Poor guy, just doing his job, lol. But I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one!

**DarkHyena - **Yeah, Cordelia definitely got lucky that Seth was there to save her this time! Plus, Devin showing up to help out too! And thanks for your question! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Yeah, I seem to be toying with a lot of people's emotions. I wonder how you all will handle this chapter with Zinnia getting shot and all. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **Haha! I read that in the narrator's voice too! But yeah, definitely a close call for Cordelia there. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! But yeah, Cordelia lucked out with having Seth and Devin there to help her out. And I'm glad you liked Swabbie's fight too. And people tend to live in weird places sometimes, lol, so I'm sure they have their reasons for living on an island filled with lighting. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **YAS! I always have to leave you in suspense! And that's exactly what I did for this chapter too! Haha! And of course Eli will overreact, lol. It's in his nature to do so. And nope, they really can't seem to catch a break. Hopefully the next clue won't be as hectic, but we'll see. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Well, look at you lucking out. I was just about to start my last read through of this chapter and then post it when your review appeared. What horrible procrastination! But yeah, poor Swabbie, lol. He put up a tough fight, but that three on one with a mage that can melt his rock made it rather hard. But at least Zinnia was there to make sure he stayed safe! And talk about paying back the favor in this chapter! Swabbie for the win! Anyways, lol, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around.

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	28. You Wanted to Smile Too

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 28: You Wanted to Smile Too**

**April 14, X792 - Morning**

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Alisa asked after Drayden had rolled up the scroll to the treasure map.

They had found the relic of water they were looking for fairly quickly upon entering the mirror. What they had walked into was an underground cave and a vase of water that seemed to glow blue sat on a raised and flat rock. It was fairly obvious that this was what they had been looking for and Drayden had tipped it enough to let a drop of the water fall onto the map. He had made sure that the new clue appeared before rolling it back up, figuring that Cordelia would like the honors of being the one to really read over it the first time. Now they had a bigger problem. How to get out of the cave since the mirror had been shattered. Where the entrance had been previously for them, it had disappeared when Drayden had pulled Alisa into the cave.

"Well, if someone hadn't of pissed off a pirate, we wouldn't have to worry about that, now would we?"

Alisa scoffed at him, "I could not help it. You did hear how he spoke!"

"Everyone speaks differently. You should just get used to that already, especially living on a sailing guild."

"Being a part of the seas does not give one the right to swear off proper speech."

"Whatever. It doesn't change the fact that you pissed him off enough to break that mirror."

"This is an underground cave, correct?" she asked, completely ignoring his comment.

"Yeah, we've covered that already."

"Do not give me your attitude. I already deal with enough from Aria," she said, narrowing her eyes at him, "Now then, I am going to assume that this is a cave under the island we were just on top of. It would make the most sense. So that would only mean that there should be another exit out of here."

Drayden nodded at her and used his magic to spark blue lightning to life in his hand, creating somewhat of a torch for them to use. He moved it around the cave and walked back into it a bit until he found a tunnel leading out of it, "Looks like you might be right then."

"Of course I am," she stated, causing Drayden to roll his eyes in response, "Now then, let us get going. We need to head back to the guild."

"But what if we end up getting lost in here?"

"Must you be a pessimist about this? At least Aria would be ready to take this cave head on."

"So what you really want to get back to the guild for is Aria then?" he asked with a smirk.

"What?! I never said such a thing!"

"You don't really have to. I can tell that you're worried about her after what Zinnia told us about Eli having to take her back to the guild."

"You really should not make assumptions about people," Alisa huffed, doing her best to cover up the fact that he had been right, "Now, we need to get moving."

"As you wish," was all he said as the two fell into step together, but he still wore his smirk underneath his cowl.

**. : + : .**

**April 14, X792 - Late Afternoon**

Cordelia paced back and forth on the deck of the ship that held the infirmary. She had checked on Aria again to make sure she was really all right. It seemed that Jack had things under control when it came to the girl's healing, so while Cordelia was had been worried over the sword mage, it wasn't what was causing her pacing at the moment. It was the fact that three of her mages were still missing in action at the moment. She had sent a few of her mages back onto the island to look for them, but the only thing they had brought back were two of Zinnia's shields. The two shields were leaning against the side of the boat she was currently on, and every so often, she would stop to look at them before continuing her pacing.

"Where are you, Zinnia?" she said quietly. She had originally thought that maybe her best friend had gone with Drayden and Alisa to help them with the clue, but for all of them to be gone so long, something didn't sit right with Cordelia. It would be evening soon, and there was not a single sign from any of them. Out of the three missing mages, Zinnia knew how much Cordelia worried about people, so it made her question what was really going on at the moment. She had even ignored Jack's request for her to take it easy from that morning's event with the Dark Water. She wouldn't be able to take it easy until her three missing mages were back on the guild.

"You're going to create a hole in the deck if you keep that pacing up, sweetheart."

Cordelia stopped as soon as she heard the voice, glancing back to see Securus standing just a few feet away from her. He gave her his usual smirk, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. Neither of them had spoken with each other much since the that night on Nube that he had stumbled into her office drunk. Though, Cordelia also hadn't had much time to really stop and have a conversation with the man either, not with the treasure hunt still going on. She turned to fully face him, now seeing Nanami just a ways behind the man. Cordelia smiled at the thought of the young woman appearing to make sure things would go smoothly between the two.

She then turned her attention back to Securus, the two simply staring and watching each other for a long moment. There were many things that Cordelia had thought about saying to Sercurus when they had time to talk about the incident. She wasn't angry with him, but she had wanted to remind him that she was still keeping her promise to him. She wanted him to know that she hadn't forgot about him or the thing he kept hidden from the world.

In turn, Securus had thought about what he should say to her. He knew he should apologize for what had happened. And he wanted to let her know that he would stay until their current mission was completed before taking his solo mission. That he could handle things until then and that she wouldn't need to worry about him barging into her room drunk anymore.

But even with all these things they had both wanted to say to the other, the two could only stand in silence, watching one another. Though, Cordelia had seen the apologetic look in his eye and that had been enough for her. She eventually smiled at him, Securus finding relief and forgiveness in that smile.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me sweetheart? I am your elder, ya know," she said, though there wasn't any bite to her tone.

"I'll call you what I want, sweetheart."

Cordelia simply smiled warmly in response, feeling like things had returned back to normal between the two of them, "As for the deck, it's my guild and I'll do what I want."

"So the other three have not returned?" Nanami asked, walking to fully join the other two.

"No, they haven't," Cordelia said with a frown, "I sent some people onto the island to look for them, but they only brought back Zinnia's shields. I don't understand why it's taking them so long."

"I see," Nanami said, eyeing the shields, "May I look at them, Cordelia-san?"

"Be my guest."

Both Nanami and Securus walked up to the shields to look them over. While one still seemed to be in good condition, the other was filled with bullets. Nanami used her sword to pop one of the bullets out from the shield, looking it over before handing it over to Securus.

"Look familiar?" she asked while turning back to the shield.

Securus narrowed his eyes at the white bullet in his hand, "Daniel," he said lowly, "Where was this shield found at?"

"The search group said they found that one on Glass Beach."

"My guess is that Zinnia caught up with Drayden and Alisa then, but they all had more to deal with than that rock guy when they made it there," Securus explained.

"Securus-kun," Nanami said, pointing towards a hole in the shield filled with the white bullets.

Securus felt his eyebrows furrow at seeing that hole. He picked the shield up to see it went through the entirety of it. He turned it over to see there was a splattering of red across it, which he guessed had been blood. He flipped the shield back over and held it up to Cordelia's front side, measuring where the hole hit her.

"So I know you're not going to like this, but I think that Zinnia was shot," Securus said, seeing Cordelia's body tense up, "She was probably hit around here," he said, motioning towards Cordelia's lower stomach area, "Give or take an inch or two for your differences in height."

"But this is her Spartan Soldier shield," Cordelia said in a quiet voice, not wanting to believe that Zinnia's defenses had been broken, "The other bullets didn't do anything to the shield."

"Then he must've had a bullet that can break through it. The hole proves that much," Securus said, "And the blood too," he added quietly, pulling the shield up to show the splattering of red to Cordelia.

Cordelia stared at the blood for a long moment, unable to say anything during this time. It was hard for her to believe that Zinnia was shot. Her defenses were always the best. There was no way that someone could have gotten through them so easily. But Securus was right. The evidence was staring her right in the face.

"So…she's probably not with Drayden and Alisa then," Cordelia said quietly, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her best friend had most likely been shot.

"More than likely, no," Securus said, "But I have a good idea of where she is," he continued, holding up the white bullet that belonged to the sharpshooter of the Black Skulls.

"Not that I would want her left for dead," Nanami said, "But why would they take Zinnia-san onto their ship instead of leaving her on the island?"

"That's the question we have to answer," Securus said, "As well as where Drayden and Alisa went to still."

"Cordelia-san, what do you wish to do?"

The two S-Class mages looked over at Cordelia to see a dark look covering her face, "We're getting Zinnia back," she said in a tone that left no room for argument. She turned away from the pair and began the trek across the main vessel of the guild to reach the training ship that held the smaller boats. Her pace was fast and determined, Cordelia ignoring anyone who tried to approach her. Ace had even tried to reach out to her to get her to stop, but he was quickly stopped himself.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, keeping her attention on the path towards the boats.

"Oi! What's your problem?!" Ace snapped, continuing to follow her sister.

"Madmartigan has gone too far this time," she said lowly as she stepped down onto the deck of the ship that held the smaller boats.

"Cordi, what's going on?!"

Cordelia ignored her brother as she began pulling at ropes to drop a boat into the water.

"Cordelia!" Ace pushed.

She whipped her body around to face him, an angry look across her face, "The Black Skulls have Zinnia and I'm going to get her back!" she shouted before jumping down into the boat that was in the water. Ace watched as Securus and Nanami jumped into the boat with her, "He'll fucking pay for this," she said lowly as Securus started up the boat and moved them into the direction they had last seen that black ship belonging to the pirates.

**. : + : .**

Swabbie was currently sitting down in the brig of the ship for the Black Skulls along with Mingo and Daniel. The redhead had managed to catch Mingo's attention when they had approached the ship, the first mate quickly recognizing who Zinnia was, having seen the brunette near Cordelia when they had gone to get Micky back from Storm's Helm. Mingo had guided them down to the brig in order to hide her, Madmartigan being in his own quarters at the time. The blonde had dragged Daniel down with them, not wanting the man to go to the captain about things yet. They had placed Zinnia down in the brig, Mingo doing his best to get her cleaned up first and leaving Swabbie to watch over her while he questioned Daniel on what had happened. The two men were still going at it while Swabbie continued to watch over the girl in the cell.

"Did you even think about what would happen afterwards, you idiot?!" Mingo shouted.

"Like I give a shit," Daniel answered, "At least I did something to help the guild out. That bitch is the one that can put up shields. Without her, their defenses are severely weakened."

"You really are an idiot. If you had killed her, it would have started a war with the guild. Giving them a real reason to take us out is not something we need right now. We're only trying to get the map, dammit!"

"Have you forgotten that we're pirates? We do whatever we want, when we want. So if some little bitch happens to get in the way of what I want, then that's her damn fault. I don't feel bad for aiming to kill her!"

"If they figure out what you did, what do you think they're going to do? You think they're just going to sit idly by and hope that we hand her back over? Hell no! They're going to come here, pissed off and guns blazing! And considering the history you and your specialized bullets have with a couple of their mages, who do you think their going to single out first?"

Swabbie ignored the arguing duo as he turned his attention back to the woman in the cell in front of him. He was currently hunched over in a chair in front of it while they had propped Zinnia up on the small bed that was shoved to the left side of the cell. He could tell that her skin had paled from the amount of blood she had lost and that it would only continue to become paler if she wasn't properly taken care of soon. He noticed how her chest rose and fell slowly before staring down at the ground, pinching the bridge of his nose when he felt the beginnings of a headache coming on, and he was sure it wasn't just from the lack rum since the morning.

He genuinely felt bad that the woman had gotten hurt like she had. While he had attacked her himself, he wouldn't have aimed to kill anyone. He had seen enough of that in his lifetime and killing her or the other mages with her definitely weren't necessary deaths, at least he didn't think so. And she had been so kind to him. She didn't even know who he was and she had shared drinks with him and danced with him like they had been long time friends. She never hesitated once to smile at him, not even when they fought back on the island. And she had covered him with her shield before moving on ahead to keep him safe from the lightning. He didn't understand it. Why save a pirate like him?

The creaking of the bed pulled him from his thoughts, the redhead looking up to see Zinnia struggling to sit up. She held one hand to her stomach that had been cleaned and wrapped and another to her head where a large bandage had been placed due to Swabbie knocking her out.

"I feel like shit," she said lowly, "Like a tank hit me."

Swabbie grunted at the irony of her comment, considering most people referred to him as a tank when he was fighting. The grunt seemed to be loud enough to catch her attention since her head popped up to look at him. He seemed to panic for a moment when they locked eyes, Swabbie still feeling upset over what had led to her being in her current predicament.

Everything that had happened came rushing back to Zinnia when she saw the redhead. Daniel showing up, the mirror breaking, Daniel shooting her and the redhead stepping in to stop Daniel before knocking her out.

"You," she breathed out, moving to weakly stand in front of the bars of the cell, grabbing onto them to keep herself standing.

Swabbie was surprised that she could move like that, but he was also worried since she should be resting from her wound. He thought that anger was what fueled her movements, the man waiting for her to start shouting at him, but he was met with a completely different outcome.

"You saved me."

He could only blink at her in surprise. That definitely wasn't what he expected at all. It was because of him that she was even in her current state, that she had been shot by Daniel. He frowned at her, having to look away from her green eyes from all the guilt he felt.

Zinnia stood in her own surprise, wondering why he would turn away from her like that. She began to look around and soon realized that she wasn't on the island or her own guild, "Am I on your ship?" she asked, earning a grunt in reply from Swabbie, "I'll take that as a yes. I'm guessing your captain knows I'm here then?"

"No."

"Ooookay. Then what's going on? Why am I here? I need to get back to my guild as soon as-" she said, her words being cut off as a wave of pain hit her. She grabbed onto her stomach tighter since that was the source of the pain. Though, she felt something warm on her hand, causing her to look down to see that a thin layer of blood covered her hand as well as the bandages covering her stomach. She fell limply to her knees, leaning against the bars of the cell.

Swabbie jumped up in panic, unsure of what to do, but knowing that keeping her in the brig like that wouldn't help save her. What would be the point of saving her from Daniel only to let her die here? He had never felt compelled to save anyone before, but this one woman had his mind going crazy at the thought of her dying. He came to perch himself beside her cell, reaching through to feel and make sure she was still breathing. He froze when her head moved slowly to stare up at him, her green eyes keeping him locked in place. Those eyes still stared at him without malice or ill will. She seemed to almost stare at him like she was happy to see him again.

"Why?" he finally asked.

"Why what?"

"Protect me. Smile at me. Why?"

Zinnia stared at him for a long moment before she smiled at him again, "Because it looked like you wanted to smile too and I wanted to see that."

Swabbie fell backwards away from her, her words stunning him. He watched as she passed out against the bars and even in his stunned mind, he knew that she needed to get proper medical treatment or she might not wake up again. He shook her last words off for the moment and stood up. He yanked a few of the cell bars out of place, causing the arguing men to stop and look over at him.

"What are you doing, you drunk idiot?!" Daniel shouted as he stormed over towards him, "She's our prisoner, so she's staying in the fucking cell!" he continued, trying to get Swabbie to stop by pulling on his arm.

This only caused the redhead to turn quickly and slam a fist into his chest, knocking him into the iron bars of the cell across from Zinnia's. Swabbie knew the man wouldn't stay quiet after his attack on him, so he quickly made sure Daniel would stay silent long enough for him to execute his plan. Before Daniel could say anything further or even recover from the first blow, Swabbie punched him right across his head, much like he had done to Zinnia, but with much more force. Daniel was knocked out in an instant, Swabbie leaving the man slumped against the cell as he turned back to Zinnia. He gently picked her up and began carrying her out from the prison.

"What are you planning on doing?" Mingo asked, not at all seeming upset that he had hit Daniel.

"Taking her home," he grunted.

Mingo placed a hand on his shoulder when he began to pass by him. Swabbie turned and stared him down much like he had done to Daniel before he hit him. Mingo threw his hands up defensively, "I'm not going to stop you. I actually want to help you. None of this sits right with me. Plus, if that guild master has figured out what's happened to her, it'll create big problems. I need to stop those problems ahead of time."

Swabbie stared him down for a moment before letting out another grunt and walking off with Zinnia.

"Besides, you don't have the smooth talking skills needed to get on a boat and sail back to the guild like I do, now do you?" Mingo smirked, only earning another grunt from Swabbie.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from Origm2012 for Eli:

**What's the worst mission you've been on with a guildmate?**

**Eli: **Marzell.

**Watson: **That doesn't even answer the question!

**Eli: **Any mission with that card punk is the worst mission ever!

**Watson: **Look, we finally returned with the Question Corner and this is how you answer the question asked?! The readers deserve more than that!

**Eli: **And who's fault was that for being gone for so long?! Sure as hell ain't mine!

**Watson: ***smiles towards the readers* Give us one moment please. *grabs Eli and yanks him off set*

*Loud shouts and punching can be heard, quickly followed by a stream of fire appearing across the screen*

**Producer: **Please excuse the interruption, but we will be going into Standby Mode for a moment.

**Twenty Minutes Later**

**Watson: **Thanks for waiting! *glares over at Eli, who has several large bumps on his head* Try to blow me away with fire will you?! You're lucky that Isaak showed up when he did! Now answer the damn question!

**Isaak: **He's quite the brute, isn't he?

**Watson: **More like an idiot…Now answer the question, dammit!

**Eli: ***glares at Watson and Isaak* The worst mission ever was when this four eyed idiot over here first became S-Class and forced me and Cor to go on a mission with him. He bossed us around the entire time, thinking he knew what was best. Only we ended up in the middle of an ice wyvern nest up in Iceberg waters and it was thanks to me that we got out of there alive! Fucking idiot!

**Isaak: **How about I take you out for a drink?

**Watson: ***blushes* Ahaha, sure!

**Eli: **Don't ignore me! Dammit!

**Watson: **That's it for this interview! See you all next week! *walks off with Isaak*

**Eli: **Hey! What did I say?! You ruin everything, you damned card loser! *chases off after them*

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

So I enjoyed this chapter a lot, but I think I most enjoyed that interaction between Swabbie and Zinnia and writing out some of Swabbie's thought process for how he felt about the whole incident. And also that silent apology and forgiveness moment between Cordelia and Securus since that still needed to be taken care of.

But I do believe in the next chapter, we'll finally be getting to the beginning of the first big flashback for the story, so I'm super excited about that!

I don't have too much else to say for this time around, so I'll jump right into the reviews then!

So thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**Momochan77 - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And things have heated up a bit with Zinnia being shot like that. So we'll see how this all gets handled next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **That does sound like a cool idea. The Glass Beach turned out the way it did though for how the clue was set up since they had to find that mirror and everything. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Yep, sinister works well to describe Zinnia getting shot like that. So I'm glad you liked that scene. And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Haha, yeah, even if he is a drunk, Swabbie definitely had a better thinking process than Daniel. And this will definitely be a learning experience for Zinnia. Yep, I do have plans for that to happen between Isaak and Eli, so just keep waiting for it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Haha, the fluff! And then Zinnia getting shot…doesn't really help that fluff, does it? LOL! But I'm glad to hear that you like Swabbie so much. I've really come to like him myself now that I've been able to write his character. And oh yes, do keep a look out for that Dark Water! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Haha! All those poor tables! Although, it's partly my fault for them, lol! So many questions! And some answered this chapter…only to create more! CHA! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Haha, glad you liked that mirror in the middle of the beach. And I figured it was time to bring a Black Skull back around, so why not Daniel? It was too perfect to pass up, especially with how things worked out with Zinnia. And yep, I straight up shot her. I felt bad when I did it, but again, too perfect to pass up! And yeah, Swabbie for the win! Haha! I think 'ugh' is the perfect word to describe Eli sometimes. Even Cordelia uses it to describe him! I really want to smack him sometimes and I was the one to create him! Just give it time though (and maybe a good punch from Seth) and he'll stop being stupid…a little anyways. And no worries on the long review, lol. Like I've said before, I enjoy reading them! And it looks like your Eli counter passes this chapter, but only because Eli wasn't in it, haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep, the guild just seems to go from one bad situation to another. But that just means more excitement for you all to read! And Cordelia managed to figure out what happened to Zinnia thanks to Securus and Nanami, so obviously that can't end well for the Black Skulls, can it? Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad I could surprise you with Daniel's appearance! But it was just too perfect of a moment to pass up with Zinnia and everything. But then Swabbie saved the day! And Eli always seems to make things worse before making things better, lol, it's just how he is. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**potentialauthor18 - **Haha, now every time I picture Drayden using his Lightning Bullet all I'm gonna see is the Spirit Gun, though I suppose that's now a bad thing. But yeah, Swabbie managed to come onto the scene in time to save her from actually dying. But yeah, he doesn't really want to see her dead, so he's lucky that Mingo is an understanding guy and hates Daniel as well. Help him out with his case of saving Zinnia. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Seriously…you got super lucky again! I was going through my review responses before my final edit when I got your review again, lol! But yeah, Swabbie definitely saved Zinnia this time around, so she lucked out big time. And yeah, Eli really is an idiot when it comes to certain matters. He already chewed her out once for the Dark Water and she had just almost drowned, but when it comes to controlling his anger, he's not very good at it. Nor is he very good at apologies either, is he? But like you said, that's sort of his nature, but still…he's rally a hopeless idiot sometimes! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	29. A War to Come

**A/N: **YAS! Storm's Helm Sunday!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 29: A War to Come**

**April 14, X792 - Late Afternoon**

Cordelia stood at the head of the small ship, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead of her, waiting for the black ship to appear. She could feel her anger and agitation grow the farther they moved through the ocean. Pictures of what could be happening to Zinnia on that ship continued to flash through her mind and she knew that she wouldn't be able to let Madmartigan go this time. He knew she hated to see her mages hurt and she knew he was using that to his advantage, but this…this was too far.

"Cordelia-san," Nanami called out.

Cordelia simply glanced back over her shoulder at her briefly to show she had heard her before turning her attention back to the sea in front of her.

"You aren't planning on fighting that captain, are you?"

"I may, Shiraki."

"Not to be rude, but our main objective should be getting Zinnia back to the guild."

"I know that, but that man has gone too far this time. I will make him pay for what he did to Zinnia."

"Cordelia," Securus sighed, knowing that Nanami had been right in this situation, "If Zinnia is hurt, we need to get her back to the guild quickly."

"Then you two will need to take care of that for me."

"But Cordelia-san-"

"That is an order!" Cordelia shouted, "I have to make this right not only as Zinnia's guild master, but as her friend too. I sent her out on that island and now she's in the enemy's hands because of that decision. I can't just let this one slip by so easily!"

The other two were quiet for a moment as they exchanged a quick glance before Nanami spoke again.

"We will do as you wish, Cordelia-san, but please do remember that you cannot control everything that happens. By trying to right this wrong before the right time, it could potentially make things worse. As the guild master, you have a right to avenge Zinnia, but you also have a duty to protect the rest of the guild as well. Please do not forget that in your anger."

Cordelia was quiet as the words sunk in. She eventually let out a sigh, "I know. I will do my best to-"

Though, she wasn't able to finish her sentence as another small boat began to appear in front of them. The flashing lightning around them made it hard at first to pick out who or what was on the boat until they were just a few yards in front of them. Cordelia's eyes narrowed at Mingo, who stood at the front of the boat like herself. Her stare stayed locked on him for a moment before moving back towards Swabbie. She would have glared at him for a long moment too if it hadn't been for the woman that he was holding. Cordelia's eyes widened upon seeing Zinnia unconscious with blood covering her torso, even with bandages tied around her. Any rationality that Nanami had managed to talk into Cordelia went flying out the window as soon as she saw her best friend.

Mingo felt panic rise up in him for a moment. It seemed that he had been right about Cordelia coming for her mage and by the look on her face, he knew that anger wasn't enough to describe what she was feeling. He did his best to compose himself, hoping that he could talk himself out of the situation before the woman in front of him unleashed her anger.

"It looks like we can make this exchange much quicker than I had thought," Mingo began, wearing a nervous smile.

"So you came to give Zinnia-san back then?" Nanami asked once it was apparent that Cordelia wasn't going to speak.

"Of course," Mingo answered, "We…I didn't want to create problems with your guild. Not on this level. So I wish to hand your mage back over. That's all."

"And why should we trust you?" Securus asked, a hand already on his rifle, "That sharpshooter could be hiding somewhere."

"Where would he hide in open waters filled with lightning?"

"Sarcastic remarks will only get you killed faster right now," Securus said, narrowing his eyes at the blonde man.

"Look," Mingo sighed, "I know you don't have anything to go on but my word, but we really did come here to give you back this woman. We have no plans of ambush or anything of the sort. I don't want to see her die, so please take her and head back to your guild and we will head back to our own ship."

"You think that you can just get away with this so easily?" Cordelia asked, her voice low while her eyes were still locked on Zinnia.

Mingo looked over at the woman with a frown, "I didn't ask for this to happen. Madmartigan made the call to send in Daniel onto the beach along with Swabbie," he explained, motioning back towards the redhead.

"You are to blame for this as well as the first mate. You let that call be made."

"I didn't order Daniel to shoot her! He was only supposed to get the map back!"

"That man didn't care about getting the map back," she said, bringing forth her blue seal of magic to hang beside her in mid air. She reached in first with her left hand, pulling out a long , blaster-like gun that had a blue core within the black metal frame, "That man simply had one thing on his mind," she continued, reaching into the blue seal with her right hand now. This time she pulled out a custom made .45 caliber silver revolver, the gun being a classic six-shot double-action with a top break reloading mechanism that fired .45 Long Colt ammunition. An engraving on one side of the gun read 'Murdock' while the other side read 'Burningham', "And that was to kill my mage!" she shouted as she used the blaster gun first, freezing the seawater to create a path towards Mingo's boat.

"Cordelia-san!" Nanami shouted, trying to reach for her to hold her back.

Though, Cordelia was quicker and had jumped out from the boat and onto the ice just as Nanami's hand passed through the air where she had been standing, "I will not sit idly by anymore! You bring me back a wounded mage and I will send Madmartigan back two!" she yelled as she rushed up to the boat holding Zinnia.

"Shit," Mingo cursed, looking back at Swabbie, "You make sure she doesn't get hurt any further," he said, pointing towards Zinnia before jumping onto the ice to take Cordelia head on.

From out of his coat sleeves appeared forearm length, crimson laser-like needles. He shot the two needles off quickly at the guild master in hopes of stopping her in her tracks. Instead, she used the freeze gun to create a new path that lead outwards to the right of Mingo. She quickly made the veer to the right, letting the ice slide her body passed the blonde, aiming the revolver right at his face. His eyes widened as he stared the barrel down, feeling as if everything was happening in slow motion. He watched as her finger moved to pulled the trigger, Mingo using that small indication to take the time to duck as the gun ricocheted back and the bullet came flying out. The bullet whizzed right over the top of his hair, taking a few strands with it, but he managed to remain unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief, feeling happy about his decision now to have enchantments tattooed into his palms and feet to enhance his speed. He turned on the ice to see Cordelia using the blaster to create a wall of ice to stop her sliding. She lifted a leg up to stop herself from slamming into the wall completely, the woman looking over her shoulder to see that Mingo had been able to dodge the bullet.

The two took a moment to stare each other down before Cordelia pushed off from the ice and Mingo did the same from his spot to meet her in the middle. He had new needles at the ready, sweeping them downwards at her when he came close enough, but his attack wasn't precise since he hadn't been aiming to kill or even hurt her. He simply wanted her to stop her onslaught, but it seemed that Cordelia wasn't going to back down any time soon. She jumped up over the needles, flipping up and over Mingo. In the course of jumping over him, she used the revolver again, the gun now aimed at his back. She shot off another bullet, Mingo barely having enough time to turn and block the bullet with a needle. Though, the bullet was strong enough to break the crimson weapon in half, Mingo having to move to the left to continue dodging the bullet. It managed to hit across the top of his shoulder, ripping his coat open and causing a thin stream of blood to trickle down from his shoulder. Mingo gnashed his teeth at the sharp sting of pain that rose from the wound, but it didn't stop him from concentrating on the woman in front of him. He shot out the unbroken needle at her, feeling like he would have to make some kind of hit on her now to get her to stop. Cordelia was landing back on the ice when she saw the needle coming at her, but she didn't show any signs of being worried about the weapon coming near her as she simply lifted the freeze gun towards it and froze it in mid-air. She watched it land with a clank against the ice, her eyes moving back up towards Mingo with a straight face. Though, she didn't have any time to glare at him as he was rushing up on her, using the greaves he wore on his shins against her as he began attacking her with hard kicks.

"If you would just listen to me, then I wouldn't have to kick around such a pretty woman such as yourself," he said, hoping to get through to her.

Cordelia bent backwards, watching one of his legs soar over the top of her head. She didn't say anything in response, her mind already made up to avenge her best friend right there and then. The blood across Zinnia's body making it easy for Cordelia to attack without a care, even if Mingo hadn't been the one to hurt her. The man was still a part of the Black Skulls, a part of the group that had put Zinnia in that condition. There was no way in hell she was going to let the two men leave without some sort of retribution.

She used her bent form as momentum in her own kick, putting her weight on her left leg as she brought around her right leg to slam into his side. Mingo caught onto what she was doing though and used a needle to run up the side of her leg to stop her. She dropped down onto the ice as the needle made contact with her, but she didn't let out any sound of pain as blood dripped down from her leg, even coming up and out of her boot. The bright red shined across the ice, spreading out until it dripped down into the unfrozen water around the ice.

"I really didn't want to do that," Mingo frowned down at her, stepping up to her with his needles at the ready still, "And I will apologize for it, but I needed to stop you somehow," he said. Though, he took a step back in shock when she looked up at him with a dark stare. She looked more dangerous now than when they had started the fight, "You can't seriously be thinking of continuing this fight."

"I said I would send back two wounded mages, and that's exactly what I'll do!" she shouted, ignoring the pain in her leg and lunging forward towards Mingo. She slammed him down onto the ice, the two sliding across it until he had slammed back up against the boat holding Swabbie and Zinnia. He tried to moved his needles towards her again, but she was faster with her revolver, shooting off another two bullets to break the needles before using the blaster on his hands and arms to freeze them in place against the ice. Mingo struggled for a short moment until the barrel of the revolver was pointed right at him, "I've got two bullets left. That's more than enough to wound you and your friend back there. Would you like to choose where the bullet goes?" she said, her voice low and filled with rage, "Though, I'm sure that Zinnia didn't get to choose anything. How about I shoot you in the same place she was hit?" she continued, moving the gun down towards Mingo's stomach and pressing the barrel against his bare skin.

Mingo stared sadly back up at the woman. He knew that she was angry over what had happened, but he could also see a heavy guilt in her eyes. It made him feel his own guilt for letting something like this happen. He knew that she had every right to be acting the way she was. He honestly respected her for going so far to defend one her mages, but he just couldn't shake that guilt that hung in her eyes.

"This isn't your fault, you know," he said in a calm voice despite the gun pressed to his stomach.

Cordelia froze at those words, shock taking over her eyes instead of the anger that had been there before. Though, she was unable to say anything to him.

Mingo took the silent moment to continue, "I truly am sorry that she was hurt, but it's not your fault that happened. That's why you're so angry, isn't it? Not just because she was hurt, but because she was working under your orders when it happened."

Cordelia continued to stay silent, but Mingo felt the gun against him begin to shake.

"I'm not trying to save my life here, but I just can't stand to see a woman so sad," he said, "You must know that you can't save everyone. As a master or a captain, sometimes bad things happen and you have to learn how to accept and deal with these bad things. Do you think this is how your mage would want you acting?"

"What do you know?!" Cordelia finally snapped, "And how am I supposed to believe anything you say?! How do I know this isn't just some ploy to get us to trust you?! Zinnia was hurt because of you and your crew and all you did was wrap her up in some shitty bandages and bring her back like some peace offering!"

"Because I've had to watch men from my crew die. I know that feeling of helplessness. But unlike a legal guild, no one would ever step in to help a crew of pirates out. I don't wish to put those same feelings onto you. To see you suffer in helplessness at losing a piece of your family because of some stupid man's thoughtlessness. That is why I brought your friend back. I'm not doing this because I have some hidden agenda. I'm doing it because it is the right thing to do."

Cordelia gnashed her teeth together at his words. She wanted to believe him, she really did. He sounded honest and sincere, but she just could get the picture of Zinnia bleeding out of her mind. It was on a continuous loop in her mind, as if her conscience wanted to put her through a constant guilt trip. What else was she supposed to do to get rid of that picture than to take revenge for what had been done to her?

She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her cheek. Cordelia snapped her head up to see the green eyes of Zinnia staring at her. The brunette smiled at her softly, "That's enough, Cordelia."

"Zi…" Cordelia breathed out, "You're okay?"

"Well, I suppose I've seen better days," she said, her other hand holding onto her stomach, "But I'm alive, so let them go."

"But they-"

"These two really did save me. Don't be angry with them. They kept Madmartigan from finding out I was on their ship and he saved me from Daniel," she said, motioning back towards Swabbie, the redhead staring at Zinnia in worry from her moving around so much, "And they brought me back to you, so let them go."

Cordelia stayed in her current position for a moment longer before she eventually gave in and pulled the gun away from Mingo. She recalled both of her weapons and stood on shaky legs, having to put most of her weight on her left leg. She looked over at Swabbie for a moment before turning her gaze down at Mingo.

"You have my gratitude for bringing Zinnia back," she nodded down at him, though she continued wearing a straight face, "But you are still under the command of Madmartigan and so that still makes you my enemy. I won't hold back if we have an encounter in the future if you continue to choose to be a part of his crew and his actions. I would think long and hard whether you really want your death to come from following a man like that."

Mingo could only nod at her in response, silently thanking that Zinnia had come back to when she did.

Cordelia moved towards the boat and helped Zinnia out of it. She then turned her eyes onto Swabbie again, "The same message goes towards you as well," she said, only earning a grunt from the man.

"Thanks again for helping me," Zinnia smiled at the two men, surprising them both that she could still smile so kindly towards them after what she had been through. She then let Cordelia help her back towards their own boat, both Nanami and Securus helping them into the boat.

"Mingo!" Cordelia called out before they set off back towards the guild. Swabbie was breaking the ice around his hands so he could get up. The blonde looked back towards her as she continued, "You tell that captain of yours that if he continues like this, it'll only end in a war between us and I can assure you that I won't be the one dying in that war! You better make sure he treads carefully from here on out!"

Mingo simply frowned in response as he watched their boat move away. He knew that she was right, but he also knew that his captain wouldn't turn away from the path he had created for his crew. A battle between Madmartigan and Cordelia was coming and he knew that only one of them was going to survive it.

**. : + : .**

**April 14, X792 - Night**

Cordelia sat in her office that night, her right leg bandaged and propped up on top of the desk. She had hovered over Zinnia until about an hour ago, Jack having to chase her off by force in order to ensure that Zinnia would get the proper rest she needed after he had taken care of her wound. She wouldn't have a lot of strength over the next few days at least from all the blood she had lost, but Jack had assured Cordelia that the bullet hadn't hit any vital organs, so Zinnia would eventually recover, albeit with a bit of a scar from the bullet.

In the time she had left to get Zinnia and while she was hovering over her best friend and also getting her own wound fixed up, Drayden and Alisa had returned with the map and the new clue on it. They had explained that they had been trapped in an underground cave, having to go through a maze to get out of it, exiting out on the other side of the island and having to make their way back to the guild. Cordelia had thanked them for their efforts and sent Alisa to get her own gunshot wound looked at.

Cordelia was now staring down at the map, reading over the new message and clue that had appeared again, "Looks like you found the water needed for this clue. I suppose it's admirable that you were able to find that mirror and avoid getting struck by lightning," she read off, rolling her eyes at that last line since she had in fact been struck by lightning earlier that day, "But the next clue will be much more tricky to figure out. I hope you have some wits on your side! So I continue to wish you luck! William Blackstroker," she said, her eyes moving down to the white lettering that gave the next clue, "On a booming island, there you will find the spirit of wishes. Seek him out and play his game if you want the next piece of the map. But keep in mind that not all games test strength and speed."

Cordelia sighed after reading the clue again. She knew the next island they would need to head to was Tonituri, the island of thunder, but she was really beginning to wonder if they should go. After what had happened today, she no longer felt sure of the treasure hunt. She didn't want any of her mages dying over it. Their deaths wouldn't be worth it. But then she had made that declaration towards Mingo about a war starting if things continued. And then there was all the big talk she had been making against Madmartigan about winning the treasure hunt. It would be really stupid of her now to back down and she was sure that many of her mages would be angry with her for stopping the hunt after everything they had been through so far.

"I don't know what to do anymore," she said quietly, leaning back in her chair and staring up at the ceiling. She didn't want to go to her father again for advice. He'd only give her some cryptic response that she would have to figure out the meaning to herself. She didn't wan to go to any of her mages either. It would make it seem like she was weak and unable to lead them. Even if some of them would be understanding towards her problems, it wasn't something she wanted to burden them with, "We need all that money, but I don't want anyone to die over it. But we've come so far and gone through so much, that it would be stupid now to stop. What am I supposed to do?"

At that question, her coat fell from the hook it hung from on the back of the office door. As it fell, the journal she had found earlier that day also fell to the floor, having been tucked away into the coat. She stared at the brown leather journal for a long moment, remembering that it held the answers she needed when it came to Duke and Madmartigan. Maybe it would also hold the answer she needed to make her decision on what to do next. She eased her leg down from the desk and slowly made her way over towards it. She picked both the journal and coat up, hanging the coat back on its hook. She then made her way back over towards her desk, pouring herself a glass of whiskey before she started her read through the journal. She took a sip of the liquor first as she eyed the journal, finally seeing how large it really was.

"Am I even going to be able to find what I need in this thing?" she mumbled as she finally flipped the cover open. On the first page was simply the name Duke Ramirez written in a smooth, flowing handwriting. She knew the writing belonged to Duke, having seen it many times growing up. She flipped through the pages, his smell of cigars wafting up towards her. It had been a long time since she had smelled that scent and it instantly brought a warm, comforting feeling over her. She smiled softly as she continued drinking her whiskey and flipping through pages, seeing that he had dated every page, "Well, at least he was smart enough to do that," she said, skimming over a few pages to read their content. She knew she would have to make time to sit down and read over everything properly, but she was anxious to find any mention of Madmartigan in the journal currently, "Come on, Duke. I know you had to write about your encounter with him. Dad even said it would be in here, so where is it?"

She then came across a page that quickly caught her attention. Unlike the many pages before it that held the same smooth and flowing writing that he had been using, the handwriting on this page was much more scratchy looking. The lettering was thicker, like he had been pressing down on the pen roughly, a few places on the page actually having small holes in them from where he had pushed the pen down so hard it went through the paper. The writing seemed frantic and angry and it was so unlike the man that Cordelia knew. She was fairly certain that this must have been what she was looking for, but it was confirmed when her eyes managed to catch the name Madmartigan on the page. She flipped back to a few days prior to the angry writing to start reading from there, knowing that it would be better to understand what was going on up until that horrible writing. She took one last drink of her whiskey before setting it down and picking the journal up. She looked over the date before she started in with reading the journal entry.

**. : + : .**

**25 Years Earlier**

A twenty-five year old Finn walked across the guild, having just left the front ship with his navigator. He was now headed towards the main vessel of the guild for a drink since his work was completed for the morning. Things had been moving smoothly for the guild for a few years now, compared to how things had started when he took over the guild, but a time of peace had come over the guild, giving Finn time to really come into his position as master and get everything under control. He had even started a family during this time, having married Regina and having a child. Cordelia was close to turning one now, her birthday right around the corner in June. And he adored his wife and daughter more than anything in the world currently, so it wasn't a surprise that a bright smile appeared on his face when he came to see both of them on the ship, near the bar area he usually sat at.

"Morning," he said as he came to kiss his wife before taking the baby in her hands from her. He looked down at the small girl, seeing her smiling brightly back up at him. Her hair was still fairly short, covering her head in messy, thin layers of neon green, matching his own neon colored hair, "And how are we this morning?" he asked, smiling at his daughter. Having a daughter had changed his demeanor greatly, causing the man to become much softer and gentler. Cordelia only cooed happily in response before Finn kissed her on the top of her head.

"It seems that fatherhood is rather becoming of you," a man said, chuckling afterwards.

Finn looked over to see his best friend, Duke Ramirez, sitting at a table near the bar. The man wore a large smile, his green eyes filled with amusement at seeing Finn so open with his family. His dark brown hair was slicked back and reached the nape of his neck, a few pieces falling off to the side of his face. His muscled frame seemed to overtake the chair he sat in, but he leaned back in his seat regardless. He was just snuffing out a cigar when he spoke to Finn, tossing the ashtray back onto the table.

"There's no need for you to be so jealous," Finn smirked back at him, taking a seat next to him and sitting Cordelia on the table in front of him, "Course I suppose anyone would jealous of such a cute daughter," he added, smiling when his daughter reached out to play with pieces of his hair.

"Yeah, no thanks to you. All her cuteness came from your wife, I hope you know," Duke retorted.

"That's not true!" Regina interrupted, "She has Finn's smile!"

"How can you tell when the man never smiles?" Duke asked, earning a glare from Finn, "See?! He just looks grumpy all the time!" he said before laughing.

"That's because I have morons like you to deal with all the time."

Duke let his chair drop back down onto all four legs as he leaned forward to slide Cordelia in front of him, "Uncle Duke isn't a moron, is he?" he asked, watching as the small girl cocked her head to the side as he talked to her, "It's just that daddy has a stick shoved too far up his a-"

"Duke!" Regina yelled before smacking him upside the head.

"What?" he said, rubbing the back of his head, "She's gonna hear worse than that on the guild eventually."

"I don't want that to be the first word she learns!"

"Ah right," he said, turning a grin back on Cordelia, "We've gotta learn how to say Duke first and then we can start building your collection of curse words," he said, earning a bright smile from Cordelia when she saw him smiling.

"You're horrible! Finn! Don't let him teach our daughter weird things!"

Finn sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "You're already causing me problems and it's still morning."

"You'll have bigger problems than me when this little cutie gets older. Isn't that right, baby doll?" he said, gently tickling Cordelia's stomach and eliciting a bubbly laugh from her.

"Yer causin' lots a problems again, ain't ya?"

The trio looked up to see a beautiful dark haired woman, her chocolate brown eyes shining in the morning sun. Her long hair reached her hips, her bangs framing her face and covering her forehead. Her body was nicely curved with an ample bust, her skin a sun-kissed tan. She wore tight, light blue jeans that were tucked into heeled, brown ankle boots. She wore a black top with the sleeves ending at her mid-forearms with a simple silver bracelet on her left wrist.

Duke's gaze softened upon seeing her, sending her a warm smile, "Cheyenne."

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from Cat the Alien for Zinnia:

**If you were suddenly a type of food, what would you be?**

**Zinnia: **What a fun question! I'm really happy that this is the first question I get! So I can pick anything, right?

**Watson: **Right, but just don't make it anything too weird. I don't need to get sick by picturing some weird gross food.

**Zinnia: **Cotton candy?

**Watson: **Isn't that a little too sweet?

**Zinnia: **You don't think I'm sweet?!

**Cordelia: **You calling my best friend salty?! If you make her cry then I'll make you cry!

**Watson: **What the hell?! That's not what I said at all!

**Cordelia: **Then why can't she be cotton candy?! She's totally sweet! *hugs Zinnia* She's definitely sweeter than you!

**Watson: **And I still have the ability to write you paired up with Gordon, so shut up already unless you want that to happen! *Cordelia goes quiet as she takes a seat next to Zinnia* Now then, what I meant was that I think she should be something more substantial than cotton candy.

**Zinnia: **I suppose you have a point. Hmm…ooohhh! I know! Pop Rocks! They're still sweet, but with a bit of excitement to them!

**Cordelia: **It's perfect!

**Zinnia: **Then what would Watson be?

**Watson: **That wasn't part of the question!

**Cordelia &amp; Zinnia: **A crabapple!

**Watson: **I'm a fucking peach, thank you very much! *kicks both women off set* That's it for this interview! See you all next Sunday!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Cheyenne - MyDearWatson**

And finally! We come to the start of the long awaited past of Duke and Madmartigan! And yes! I did stop it right there! Gotta keep you all looking forward to something next week! Muwhahahahaha! It was just too perfect!

But I'm super excited to be showing off this part of history finally! So hopefully it all turns out as well I'm picturing.

I will be curious to see if anyone can figure out what I used to base that revolver off of that Cordelia used this chapter.

But anyways, I don't have much else, so I'll jump right into the reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yeah, Cordelia was not happy at all with Zinnia being taken, but luckily things didn't escalate any more than they did in this chapter. But yeah, I think Swabbie and Mingo both got some big brownie points for bringing Zinnia back like that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **One can only hope that Cordelia can handle all these promises going on. But yeah, I'm excited myself to be able to see her start to get them all solved. But I'm glad you liked that scene between Securus and Nanami figuring the shield out. I enjoyed writing out their analysis like that. Haha! That smile line got me too! I just loved it too much! But glad to hear that Mingo is still on the likable list! And I'm glad you enjoyed that Question Corner! Thanks for that question again! And I have to cheat somehow or else that counter will never go up! Just like this chapter too, haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the opening scene between Alisa and Drayden. Their banter is pretty enjoyable for me. It seems that Securus could make a pretty good detective. But I'm glad to hear that silent moment between him and Cordelia turned out well! And I'm happy to hear that you liked the interaction between Swabbie and Zinnia! I really enjoyed that myself! And we'll eventually find out why he became a pirate. Yeah, Daniel does a pretty good job of making enemies, so I'm sure he'll have plenty of people coming after him eventually. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yep, both Alisa and Drayden are fairly level headed, so it wouldn't be like them to freak out over the mirror breaking. Haha, I started picturing Securus and Nanami walking onto the scene all slow motion-like wearing sunglasses with that cliché music playing in the background after reading your CSI comment. And now I really want to see it played out in full animated style, lol! And yeah, hell almost broke out if Zinnia hadn't woken up when she did or if Mingo hadn't started talking when he did. They got lucky this time, but that final battle is coming up eventually and we can only have one winner from it! And it seemed that both Mingo and Swabbie went way up on the respect list for a lot of people. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **^.^ I'm glad that everyone seems to really be liking Swabbie and Mingo after this last chapter! But luckily they managed to hand Zinnia over without anyone dying. And I'm glad you liked the question corner! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **But at least one pirate has to have morals, right?! Or else they wouldn't have survived against Cordelia for this long! LOL! But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and the moments with Swabbie there with Zinnia! And yeah, Daniel will be in a lot of trouble eventually. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Haha! Glad you enjoyed that ZinniaXSwabbie moment! I really enjoyed it a lot myself! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**GhostOfOnyx - **Hey, no worries! Just glad to hear that you're liking how things are moving along with the story so far! Yeah, Drayden and Alisa really did work well on that island, considering their magic. Big advantage for them. And I'm glad that you're like the interaction between Zinnia and Swabbie! Originally, I didn't think it'd turn out like that, but then it just sorta happened and it really seemed to work out so well! And yeah, that Dark Water is a pretty nasty thing, so I'm sure it'll only be worse whenever it makes another appearance. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Zinnia definitely made a friend with Swabbie there! She lucked out with that for sure, with him saving her life and all. But yeah, things are starting to get a little shaky for the Black Skulls, what with Madmartigan acting the way he is currently. And yeah, Cordelia was not happy at all. Mingo lucked out that no one died in their confrontation this time. And thanks for the new question! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**potentialauthor18 - **Other than dealing with a maze, Drayden and Alisa made it out of that cave pretty easily. But yeah, Zinnia lucked out with getting help from both Swabbie and Mingo. Though, the two pirates lucked out this chapter themselves since things could have been much worse for them when dealing with Cordelia. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **You got that review in just a bit earlier than usual, so I suppose that's progress, lol! But yeah, I was happy to see Securus up and moving around too after that whole thing in Cordelia's office, even if he only gave Cordelia bad news from looking at Zinnia's shield. Yeah, I think Swabbie and Mingo both really lucked out with how that fight with Cordelia could have really gone this chapter. But Poor Swabbie only meant well in bringing Zinnia back! It's not his fault that he's not as good of a talker as Mingo! Anyways, lol, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	30. A Child's Worry

**A/N: **Storm's Helm Sunday!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 30: A Child's Worry**

**25 Years Earlier**

"Ya really shouldn't be causin' so many problems, Duke," Cheyenne said as she walked up to the table and took a seat next to the man. Though, she still wore a playful that was aimed at him, "Teachin' her curse words so early on."

"Better she learn them now from someone she knows than some random stranger," Duke answered, "Who knows what she could be learning from those weird sailors!"

"What do you think you are?!" Regina snapped, attempting to pull her daughter away from Duke.

He easily moved Cordelia around to keep her just out of her mother's reach, "I am a well known and dignified mage! I am no hardened and heartless sailor!"

Finn let out a huff of a laugh, "Dignified my a-"

"Finn!" Regina shouted before smacking him upside the head harder than she had to Duke.

Cordelia laughed at the sight of her father getting into trouble.

"Looks like your daughter knows a good show when she sees one!" Duke said before letting out a roar of laughter.

Regina huffed at both men before looking over at a still smiling Cheyenne, "I honestly don't know how you put up with him all the time."

"The same way ya put up with Finn," she answered, "He always looks so grumpy and yer always smilin', so I don't know how ya do it."

"But he's such a peach! I don't know how none of you see it!"

Duke let out another roar of laughter at his best friend being called a peach while Finn simply dropped his head into hand with a sigh.

"You better not be laughing at our love!" Regina shouted, narrowing her stare at Duke.

"No, no, nothing like that," Duke said, still having trouble at not laughing at Finn. He finally let Regina swipe Cordelia away from him as he leaned back in his chair again and put an arm around the back of Cheyenne's, "It really seems that the love of a good woman has changed you too," he said, looking over at Finn.

"You're really one to be talking," Finn grumbled. Though, a smirk played at his lips as he looked between Duke and Cheyenne.

"I guess you have me there," he said before turning his attention on Cheyenne, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry," she said, "What's on the agenda fer today then?"

"Well, I was thinking about taking a mission if Guild Master Peach over there will let me go," Duke said with a smirk, his smiling growing when Finn glared over at him.

"I suppose you haven't been on a mission for at least a month now. Maybe getting out of the guild will be good for you…and for my nerves," Finn said, "What mission did you have in mind?"

"I'll talk to you about it in your office."

"I see. Well then, let's go look over it now that way I can get your a-" he started until he received a glare from his wife, "So I can get you off the guild for while," he quickly corrected himself.

Duke nodded and stood with the guild master, kissing Cheyenne on the top of her head before leaving to follow after Finn. Once the two men were out of sight, Regina set her sights on Cheyenne.

"So when is the wedding going to be?! And you have to tell me what kind of cake to make for you!"

Cheyenne laughed softly at the woman's questions, "The weddin' probably won't be fer at least another year, so we have a while ta figure everything out. Besides, Duke and I both agreed that we just want a simple weddin'."

"Awww, but I was so excited to help you out with everything."

"Ya can still make the cake, Regina. And help me with some of the plannin', but we just don't want ta be makin' a big deal out of it," she said with a smile, the woman seeming to glow, "We have other things ta be focusin' on anyways."

Regina finally let a soft smile grace her face, understanding the message in the woman's words, "I know you do. I really am happy for the both of you. As much as I give him a hard time, Duke really deserves to be happy with you after everything he's been through on the guild. And I hope he makes you just as happy too."

"He does."

"Good. Because the first time he doesn't, I'll knock him out!"

Cheyenne laughed at her declaration, "I'm sure you will."

**. : + : .**

"Are you sure about this mission?" Finn asked, reading over the details of the mission in front of him again.

"You think I can't handle it or something?"

"You know that's not it," Finn sighed, "You're one of the S-Class mages in this guild and I know what you're capable of. It's just that…"

"It's just what?"

"This mission…it's in Barracuda's territory."

"And?"

"Duke," he said in a hard tone, "You know how things are right now. The Big Three were taken down barely a year ago and things are shaky right now in every direction on the seas. Why do you think I've been keeping the guild in Burningham's territory?"

"Because you tend to be overly cautious nowadays?"

Finn sent the man a flat stare before continuing, "Because the Murdocks and Burninghams have been on good terms for a long time. We're more like family friends, so it gives us protection in his waters while things are still in chaos."

"You think we can't protect ourselves?"

"That's not what I mean. But it's helpful to have that backup in case something goes wrong."

It was now Duke's turn to send Finn a flat stare, "Even when the Big Three were in power, we still had to be careful into which territory we sailed. It's not like we haven't ever had run-ins with Barracuda before. He's not all that bad of a guy, so long as you don't do anything to cross him."

"Look, until Burningham and the other three captains can work out the Libertatia Pact, then I would prefer you to stay out of Barracuda's territory in the south. Find a mission in western waters instead."

"Barracuda will be part of the Libertatia Pact when it's worked out, so I should be fine."

"Barracuda is getting old, Duke. Someone will probably be taking his place as soon as the pact is completed. I don't want you making enemies with someone right before they're to come into power."

"Burningham is getting old too."

"Yes, but he already has his son, David Burningham, picked out to take over. We know David and we've made a strong bond with him along with the rest of Burningham's crew. We don't have anything like that with Barracuda and his men. I don't want to take any chances of putting us on someone's radar before this pact is made."

"You really should trust me more."

Finn was silent for a long moment, staring at Duke in that time before letting out another heavy sigh, "Why do you want to take this mission so badly?"

"It's the highest paying mission we have right now and you know I need the money," Duke answered.

"You know that you don't have to worry so much about that. You're part of the guild, my nakama. I'll make sure to help you when you need it."

"I know, but as a man, I need to be able to take care of my family," he said, "Besides, this should be a fairly simply mission, even with the high price on it. All I have to do is go onto an island off of Midi, find the man with the bounty on his head and then turn him into the Navy. Piece of cake."

Finn was quiet again as he thought over things. He knew how stubborn Duke could be, and with how his current situation was with Cheyenne, Finn also knew that Duke wouldn't be taking no for an answer this time, "Fine. You can take this mission, but make sure to do this one alone. The more people there are, the more likely it is to cause problems."

Duke smiled in response, "I was planning on doing this one alone anyways. I would have to share the reward otherwise."

"And make sure to not cause a scene either. Go in there, get the guy and then leave. Understood?"

"Yes captain!"

"I mean it, Duke," Finn said, keeping his hard tone, "Don't take any chances on anything. It may seem like an easy mission, but sometimes the simplest of things can cause the biggest disasters."

"You worry too much," Duke said. Though, this got no reaction out of Finn other than a continuous, unamused stare, "But I get it. I'll be careful."

"Good."

"Take care of Cheyenne for me while I'm gone then," he said, his smile returning as he snatched the bounty sheet and mission sheet from Finn's hands, "And if anyone tries anything while I'm gone, knock them out for me!"

"Why is it that you and Gina always resort to knocking someone out?"

"Easiest way to get things done and to make a point!" Duke said, laughing as he exited the office.

Finn rolled his eyes in response. Though, once the door closed, he could only feel a sense of dread wash over him. He had briefly thought about going to stop Duke from going again, but he never felt his legs move him towards the door. There would be no stopping Duke now that he had his permission to go on the mission, but Finn just couldn't shake the feeling that things would be better off for everyone if he had just put his foot down for once against his best friend.

**. : + : .**

"Are ya sure about doin' this alone?" Cheyenne asked, frowning at Duke as he prepared a boat for his mission. He had thrown a pack into the boat for his trip along with carrying a long and heavy steel staff on his back, "I could go with ya still."

"You're staying here," he huffed, pulling the last rope necessary as the boat dropped down into the water. He then turned to face Cheyenne with Finn, Regina and Cordelia in the background.

"Ya know ya never sound that tough ta me even when yer tryin'," she laughed at him.

"Fine," he said, stepping up to her, "I need you to stay here. Please. I won't be able to focus on anything if you come with me."

"Why? Because I'm such a looker?" she teased.

"You know why," he said, brushing a rough hand against her cheek.

"Aye, I know," she smiled softly, "Still doesn't stop me from worryin' about ya though."

"I know, but I'd be more worried if you came with me. So just stay here and wait for me this time."

"Fine…this time I'll be waitin' fer ya."

"That's my girl," he smiled before moving in to kiss her on her forehead. He then moved to look at the others in the background, his smile growing wide, "You better give me that baby doll for once without a fight, Regina," he said with his arms open wide.

Regina puffed her cheeks out in irritation at his comment for a moment before giving in and handing over Cordelia to him.

Duke lifted her above him slightly, the small girl squealing in laughter as she was lifted up high, "You make sure to give everyone a hard time while I'm gone. You got that?" he said, smiling up at her. She answered by reaching her arms out towards him, causing him to lower her closer towards him until her hands were planted on either cheek, "You're really gonna be a heartbreaker someday with those big blue eyes," he smiled softly at her. Though, his eyebrows furrowed when he saw the usually smiling baby in front of him frowning at him, her eyes almost seeming to focus on him in worry. It was an odd thing to see on her face as he didn't think that a baby could understand the concept of worrying, "You be good now, baby doll," he said, trying his best to smile at her again.

Finn stepped up this time to take his daughter back, the two men having to struggle for a moment as Cordelia didn't seem to want to let go of Duke. Eventually Finn got her loose and pulled her away from Duke. He stared down at his daughter for a moment, seeing the same frown on her face as Duke had. It made Finn rethink his decision of letting Duke go on the mission again since his daughter even seemed to feel wary about it. It was odd to see Cordelia so serious, as if she knew something bad was going to happen and being frustrated that she couldn't say anything about it.

"Are you really sure you want to go on this mission?" Finn asked when he looked back up at Duke.

Duke stood in silence for a moment as he looked between Finn and Cordelia. Finally a smile broke out across his face, "Of course I'm sure! And stop looking so grumpy all the time. You're beginning to teach your daughter bad habits!" he said, gently poking Cordelia on her cheek. The small girl grabbed onto his finger, her tiny hand wrapping around it tightly as if she was trying to reach out to him one last time to get him to stay, "Things will be fine," he added as he pulled his hand away from Cordelia.

"If you say so," Finn sighed, "Just make sure to remember what I told you in my office."

"Aye, I'll remember," he said before turning back towards Cheyenne one last time. He pulled her into a hug, which she happily returned, "Take care of yourself while I'm gone."

"I'm a big girl. I'll be just fine," she smiled at him. He returned the smile before kissing her fully on the lips, "Just make sure not ta be gone fer too long."

"Of course not, love," he said before giving her one last hug and moving towards the edge of the ship, "I'll be back as soon as I can and as a richer man!"

"Just don't do anything stupid!" Finn called out as Duke jumped over the side of the ship and down into the smaller one.

"I heard you the first hundred times, Guild Master Peach!" Duke shouted back up with a bark of laughter.

"Come back safe an' sound!" Cheyenne shouted down to him, "I'll be waitin' fer ya!"

"You got it!" he said with a wink before he took off in his boat, Cheyenne staying at the edge of the ship to watch him go.

Finn looked down at Cordelia when he heard her let out a small noise of disappointment. He saw that she was still wearing a frown, staring at where Duke had just been moments ago, "You think it was a bad idea to let him go too, don't you?" he asked quietly. Cordelia looked up at him at the sound of his question with her wide and oddly worried eyes. Finn felt the dread from earlier hit his stomach again at her stare, but there really was nothing he could do now, "Let's just hope that we're both wrong about all of this, yeah?" he said, though it didn't shake the dread he felt or the worry from his daughter's eyes.

**. : + : .**

On a large warship that had been stolen from Pergrande Kingdom at some time or another sat a crew of pirates that went by the name of the Sawtooth Pirates. It was currently the largest crew of pirates within southern waters, the captain having enough power to control all lower level crews of pirates that called those waters home. Said captain currently sat in a plush, black velvet chair that had been stationed at the head of the ship along with a small table next to him that held his drink for the afternoon.

This man was named Barracuda. In his glory days, his hair had been jet black and his build had been large and muscled. Now his long hair had been silvered with age and while he was still quite a tall man, his frame had also become much leaner over the years. Though, he was still known as the strongest man in southern territory and his crew respected and feared him for it. No matter how many years passed on the ship, whatever Barracuda ordered, the crew followed it, mostly out of respect for their long time captain, but because they also knew he had the power to kill them if he had wanted. They knew this from seeing it first hand countless times for crew members that had tried to betray him or overthrown him.

He was currently wearing a wide-brimmed, black hat that he kept pushed down slightly to cover part of his face. He had on black, circular sunglasses along with a heavy black coat. Though, the coat was currently thrown over the back of his chair, leaving him in his usual dark red, long sleeved shirt, black pants with a black, leather belt and a pair of narrow, black boots. His silver hair was left loose, long strands of it floating up in the wind as he read over the paper in his hands.

He smiled slightly when he came to a decision about the papers in his hands, the crooked smile showing off sharpened teeth, "Oi! Madmartigan!" he shouted.

A young man with dark hair and eyes came walking up behind his captain, wearing his own black hat and black coat. Though, his boots were much heavier in appearance and his body frame was thick and muscled.

"Yes, Captain?" he grunted in reply.

"I have a job for you."

"What is it?"

"This man," Barracuda said, handing over the bounty sheet to him, "I want him for our crew. He would make a good addition."

"And you want me to go get him?"

"Smart boy. I knew there was a reason I chose you as my apprentice and the next in line after I retire."

Madmartigan nodded in reply, "So what makes this man so special that you'd go out of your way for him?"

Barracuda looked over his sunglasses at the young man, showing off dark and dangerous red eyes, "Do you doubt my decision?"

"No sir," he answered, "I'm simply curious."

"Smart boy again with a response like that," he said as he covered his eyes with his sunglasses again, "I am preparing a better crew for you once the Libertatia Pact is completed. The pact will signify that we really are the strongest crew in the south and I want the crew to continue to be strong after you take over. This man will help you with that. Trust me in my decision."

"I do, sir."

"Good," he said, picking up the glass of dark, red wine next to him, "Now, leave for your mission," he added, waving the young man off, "Oh, and Madmartigan," he said in a sly voice, the crooked smile returning to his face, "Don't disappoint me. Make sure to bring that man back here. You know how I get when I'm disappointed."

"Aye, Captain," Madmartigan answered, feeling a chill run up his spine at the sound of his voice and the sight of the pointed teeth shaped into a smile. He quickly took his leave of the older man to start his mission, silently hoping that the pact would be finished soon so he could finally take over the crew and not have to see that smile any longer.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from reven228 for myself (and a few chosen mages):

**If you could be in any anime world, which would you like to be in?**

**Watson: **Talk about a loaded question! There's so many!

**Ace: **We'll you're gonna have to pick one.

**Watson: **But how is that even possible? I've recently been re-watching Trigun, but that makes me so sad even if it would be cool to meet Vash in person! What would you pick?

**Ace: **Super easy. One Piece.

**Watson: **I suppose part of your inspiration did come from Zoro. You're even a bit stupid like him too!

**Ace: **Hey! My sense of direction is way better than his!

**Watson: **Or so you think, haha! Hmm, let's see here. There is always Saiyuki, mainly because that one means a lot to me. It was the first manga I ever read and I even have a tattoo inspired from it!

**Mia: **More like you just want to be all around those men!

**Watson: **You're one to talk! You'd probably pick Ouran High School Host Club or Peach Girl or something like that!

**Mia: **Howl's Moving Castle, thank you very much! Have you seen how gorgeous that man is?!

**Watson: **Until he eats your heart or all your bacon burns! Haha! And what about our lovely guild master?

**Cordelia: **Black Rock Shooter.

**Watson: **How can you even pick that when I haven't even seen it?! It's impossible!

**Cordelia: **You've seen the AMVs! It's close enough! You know how badass those chicks are! And you've seen those guns! I want them! I want them right now!

**Watson: **Still! You should pick something like- *suddenly stops as everyone in the room looks over as the five S-Class mages walk on stage dressed as Super Saiyans*

**The Five S-Class:** *take fighting stance, each pulling hands back* Kaaaaa-meeeee-haaaaa-meeeee-haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

**Watson: ***sweat drops* I…uh…I don't know how to respond to this…

**Nanami: **Now for the Spirit Bomb! *the five begin to lift their hands in the air*

**Watson: **Get out! *kicks group off stage* But in all seriousness, if I had to pick something instantly, it probably would be One Piece, mostly because that's what I've been reading recently. Plus, I mean, how awesome would that be?! Such an action packed life! And having a close crew like that! But I think Saiyuki would make a pretty close second for me since that is my favorite anime/manga. Anyways, I'll see you all next Sunday!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Barracuda - MyDearWatson**

So there's the first big chunk of the flashback! I really enjoyed writing it and it ended up turning out to be longer than I thought it would, so I definitely had to break it up into sections. And I had wanted to write more for this section, but I think all the set up was nice, so I left it how it was. Plus, I started to get sad towards the end of Duke's section, so I figured it was better to stop before I made myself too sad for the night, lol.

Quick note for those of you that read Thunder Stone! I did not forget about this week's update! But real life took over for a while with work and some other personal things going on, so I was unable to get that one updated on Thursday. I'm hoping to do at least a small update before this Thursday comes around, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyways…I really don't know how I'm gonna be able to write this flashback without feeling sad every time I write a section! Seriously! This part of it didn't even have any of the bad stuff going down and I was already feeling horrible over it! UGH! Why do I do these things to myself?!

Ahaha…clearly I had to vent that out for a moment…

But I think that's it for now, so we'll jump into those lovely reviews!

**reven228 - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter and that you're excited for the flashback! And the next Black Skull member should be pretty entertaining. Nothing as dark as it's been recently, just a small hint I suppose. And that final clash! I'm so excited myself! Thanks again for your question! It was super fun, especially since I got to answer it too, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Momochan77 - **I'm glad to hear how much you like Mingo and Swabbie! They really are fun characters to use, even in more serious moments like that last chapter. But I'm glad you liked Duke in the first part of the flashback. I think he makes for a great uncle too! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Glad you're excited for the flashback! Hopefully you were able to get more data for this chapter on what might end up happening! I'm super excited about it all! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Oh yeah, Mingo definitely lucked out with having that ability of talking his way out of things. But yeah, Cordelia definitely let her anger get the better of her that chapter, but she still has a lot of her own learning to do. But now into the long awaited flashback! So many things to find out! So I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And never fear! There are more fights to come very soon! Especially in this flashback! So be looking out for them! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **No worries on the review! Haha, I thought you might like that Zinnia/Swabbie moment! I liked it a lot myself too. (Although, I gotta wonder what Thunder Stone is doing to you, considering everything that's been going on with Tada and Azielle.) But yeah, Mingo really lucked out with being able to talk himself out of the situation for the most part. Though, most of his luck came from Zinnia waking up. And I'm glad you're so excited for the flashback too! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Oh yeah, Cordelia was definitely on the hunt for payback as soon as she saw Zinnia. Mingo really lucked out. Though, if it had been Daniel…well, he probably wouldn't have been so lucky. And yep! We finally get to go into Duke's journal! So I hope you like how the history unfolds! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! But yeah, Mingo really lucked out with his smooth talking and being able to pick up why she was attacking him in the first place. Plus, there was Zinnia sealing the deal with saving Mingo and Swabbie as well. And only time will tell if there are any more decent members or not, haha! But I was really happy to hear how much you liked that fight scene! I was honestly worried if it turned out okay or not, so I was happy to see that you liked it so much! And Dread guessed it with that revolver being based off of Vash's from Trigun, so hopefully that was what you were thinking too. But it's great that the fight made it to the top of your favorites list currently! Haha! And I'm glad to hear how excited you are for the flashback! I'm so excited to finally be writing it! And it looks like the Eli counter gets to keep going up, haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Yeah, Mingo really lucked out with Zinnia waking up when she did to end everything that was going on with that fight. Haha, and I think it would take a lot of work from Mac to get Swabbie to do more than grunt…aside from getting him drunk to say random, weird things. And yep, now time for the flashback with Duke and Madmartigan! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**potentialauthor88 - **Glad you enjoyed the fight last chapter! And no, Cordelia still has a lot to learn herself, so making a decision on the fly like that and out of anger to attack Mingo made sense for her to do currently, so I'm glad you liked that too. And I'm glad you liked Mingo's abilities too! And now we're at the flashback, so I'm glad you're looking forward to that as well. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Seems you really are slowly improving with the reviews, lol. It was still daylight when you reviewed this time! But yep, you got it right with that revolver being based off of Vash's. So many secrets in that journal! And not just the ones revolving around Madmartigan! More to be discovered…eventually! And I hope you liked Nanami as a Super Saiyan this chapter, lol! I keep making myself laugh every time I picture it with her standing at the forefront of all the S-Class men and all of them looking like Super Saiyans, haha! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around.

I'll see you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	31. How to Create an Enemy

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 31: How to Create an Enemy**

**25 Years Earlier**

The journey to Midi had been a fairly smooth one for Duke. He hadn't run into any trouble from either humans or sea creatures, "I knew Finn was worried for nothing," Duke mumbled, watching as Midi's outskirts started to form on the horizon, "This is almost too boring, but I suppose it gave me some time to start working out some names that I liked. Wonder if Cheyenne will like them too?" he said with a smile, contemplating over the many names running through his brain again as he kept his boat heading towards land.

He soon began to pack his bag back together and took a one last glance at the bounty sheet before shoving it into his back pocket. From his sources, he had learned that the man he was looking for was hiding out in this country until the Navy had backed off of his trail. Unfortunately for the man, Duke had his ways of gathering information in a much quicker, albeit frowned upon fashion. Still he wasn't going to let the information go to waste, considering the amount of money placed on the man's head.

Duke soon found himself at a small and quiet port of Midi. The town, Rosso, was one of the two main towns on the country, the city being known for the red wine it made and sold. Duke made a mental note to stop in one of the bars in town to have a glass of wine before he left, the man always having been a fan of the red wine from a young age. First he had to find the man with a bounty on his head and turn him into the Navy. Duke was lucky that the Navy had part of its southern faction located in Midi within both its main towns. It would make it easy for him to hand his target over to them that way. With that though in mind, he tied off his boat on one of the many docks at the port before heading into town.

Duke had always enjoyed visiting Rosso when they made stops at the town with the guild. It was a peaceful town with plenty of happy families, "Maybe it's the wine," he chuckled, making his way through the market area of the town.

"Oi! Ramirez! Duke Ramirez!" a man called out from a front patio of a café.

Duke stopped and looked over at the man calling towards him with an arched eyebrow before a smile split across his face, "Grant Warner! I can't believe your dumbass is still here in this town!"

An average sized man dressed in Navy clothing walked up to Duke with his own wide smile. The man had dirty blonde hair that was in a neat, short cut along with a clean-shaven face. He wore thin, rimless glasses, bright green eyes shining behind them.

"Yes, well, as one of the Captains of the Southern Naval Force, I've been stationed here while Kronos 'Troll Man' Wiley is still at large," Grant answered, shaking Duke's hand in a solid grip, "What brings you back to Rosso? Stop here with your guild?"

"I'm actually here on a solo mission," Duke answered, pulling out the bounty sheet from his back pocket, "Seems we're looking for the same man," he said, showing the bounty and mission sheets to the blonde.

Grant's eyes widened upon seeing the papers in front of him, "How'd you figure out that Wiley was here?"

"I have my sources," Duke chuckled as he tucked the papers away again.

"Of course you do."

"So then, you got any leads on Wiley and where he might be here on Midi?"

"You know I'm not really supposed to share information with you, even if you're here to help," Grant said, the man now laughing at the pout on the larger man's face, "But I suppose I could say the wine here in Rosso made my tongue slip."

"What a good man you still are, Grant Warner!"

"At this point, I don't care what it takes so long as we can get Wiley into custody, whether that's dead or alive."

"You sound worried about something."

"Well," Grant began, his voice dropping low to keep anyone from overhearing them, "There's been rumors lately that say that Barracuda is looking to recruit Wiley into his crew. I'd rather not see that happening. If Barracuda gets to him before we do, we'll probably never catch the man. That's why my Vice-Admiral has me staying here until he's found."

"I see," Duke said with a straight face before a smile quickly replaced it again, "Then I guess it's a good thing I showed up when I did! So tell me the information you know so I can be on my way!"

"Very well," Grant said, "We know for certain that he isn't here in Rosso or in Midi's other main city. We would have found him by now if that was the case. The man must have had enough sense to know that as well. We believe he's hiding out in the forest that surrounds Rosso. We have yet to find him, but I believe that's only because my men haven't been patient enough to track him properly," he explained, staring flatly over at a few of his men that sat over at the café he had come from, the men flinching at that stare and looking away innocently from the Captain. Grant then turned back to Duke, "But I have faith that you'll have a much better time at finding him. You always have been good at figuring things out even when the odds are against you."

"Thanks for the reassurance, Captain!" he said before shoving his bag into the blonde's hands, "You watch that for me while I'm gone, all right?"

"Of course, but are you sure you don't need anything from it?"

"Nah. All I need are my fists and the staff on my back," Duke smirked, "See you in a bit, Captain."

**. : + : .**

Duke had been walking through the thick forest that surrounded Rosso for a few hours now and he was beginning to think that Wiley had already disappeared from the country. He was honestly surprised that he hadn't seen some sort of sign of the criminal, considering what the man could do. He should have been able to see something that proved that the man was still in Midi.

"This is getting boring," he sighed, "I thought I would get a good fight once I got here, but it looks like Wiley already hightailed it out of here."

He was just about to give up his search and head back into town when something managed to catch his eyes. On one of the thick trunks of the trees, jagged lines circled around it as if it had been broken, and it also looked as if someone had lazily placed the tree back into it's original position. Duke started looking around at all the other trees in the area, seeing the same pattern throughout them.

"What the hell?" he mumbled before he pushed on the tree in front of him. It went down with ease and landed on other trees, creating a domino effect and leaving a trail-like path of fallen trees, "Heh, and here I had been thinking that the man was an idiot. Still, it wasn't enough to completely cover up his path," he said as he jumped up on top of the fallen trees and began running across them. Along the way though, a dark figure managed to catch his attention. He came to a stop and backed up a few steps to see a man dressed in black standing on the outskirts of the fallen tree path. The two stared each other down for a long moment, both finding it odd that another person would be out in the middle of the forest. Eventually, Duke smiled at him, "Yo! What are you doing all the way out here? You lost or something?"

The dark man grunted in reply, "I could ask you the same thing, mage."

Duke looked surprised for a moment at the man knowing he was a mage until he remembered that his golden yellow guild mark was on the side of his neck, "Ah, I'm actually in the middle of a mission," he said, watching the man's dark eyes narrow at him. Duke took another moment to study the man, soon coming to realization what the man was, "Are you a pirate?"

"And if I am, are you going to kill me for it, mage?"

"That's not really my style," he smirked, "I have no reason to hurt you…unless you'd like to give me one, pirate."

"As much fun as that might be, I don't have time for you today. I have my own mission to complete."

"What's your name?"

"Like it'll really make a difference, but it's Madmartigan," he huffed at him before turning to leave down the path of trees.

Duke instantly knew that name. He was a higher up in Barracuda's crew. And Duke was pretty sure he knew that his mission was to find Wiley and take him into his crew. He thought about his next move, to continue after Wiley or to let it go now that one of Barracuda's men was here for him. It didn't take him too long to decide as he remembered the concerned look on Grant's face when he spoke about the wanted man. He needed to complete his mission whether there was interference or not. With that thought in mind, he took off running until he had planted himself in front of Madmartigan.

The pirate glared at the mage, "Get out of my way."

"I can't quite do that," Duke said, still wearing a smirk, "It seems you and I have the same mission here. To find Kronos 'Troll Man' Wiley."

Madmartigan's eyes went wide briefly before returning to their previous glare, "If you were smart, you'd turn back around and go back to where you came from."

"Too bad I've never been very good at listening to threats like that."

"I'm telling you, mage, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Go home."

"If you could please stop calling me mage. They way you say it, it makes it sound derogatory. Call me Duke. Duke Ramirez."

"I don't care what your name is, just get out of my way."

Duke could tell that the man was quickly losing his cool. He'd probably have to deal with him first before making his way down the trail to find Wiley, "No can do. I'll be taking Wiley into the Navy today."

"You'll fail. And in doing so, you'll also be making a powerful enemy!" he snapped before moving to slam a punch down on Duke. Duke easily jumped back out of the way in time to watch the fist strike down on the thick trees, the impact breaking through the wood and into the ground, sending up chunks of wood and earth. Once the dust had settled, it revealed a large crater with Madmartigan standing at the edge of it. Though, the hand in which he used to punch the trees was without scratches or bruises. Duke lifted an eyebrow in curiosity, "Even if you were the one making the hit, the wood should have still sliced your hand in some form."

"That's the good thing about the magic I use," Madmartigan smirked darkly, "It's a little something called Hard Skin. I can ramp up the thickness and hardness of my skin to that beyond the strength of steel. Even bullets can't pierce it," he explained, "So as I said, you should just go home before I decide to get serious with you."

"It seems you like to underestimate your opponents. You don't even know what I can do."

"It won't matter what you can do," he answered, beginning to walk around the crater he had made towards Duke, "If you can't pierce my skin, you won't win."

"Who said anything about piercing your skin?" Duke said, pulling out his steel staff and beginning his own walk towards the man.

The two continued their steady pace, each still wearing smirks, until they had reached within a few feet of each other. Without any hesitation, Madmartigan pulled back a fist to throw at Duke while Duke began swinging forward his staff. The two met with an explosion of magic going off between them, one strong enough to force trees to bend backwards. Once the attack faded, Madmartigan looked down at his fist to see it shaking, feeling pain running up through it even though there wasn't any outer harm down to it.

"What did you do?" the pirate asked, looking back up at Duke's smiling face.

"It seems today isn't your lucky day," Duke said, "My own magic is called Aftershock. I can harness the power of shockwaves, and judging from your shaking hand, it doesn't appear that it can completely protect you from it. Though, I must admit it's the first time I've seen someone take a hit head on like that and not be screaming in pain, so it seems your magic is at least a little helpful," he explained before his smile widened, "Though, I'd hate to see if you had taken a hit directly from my hand. It'd probably crush your entire hand that way. What luck you have!"

Madmartigan felt his glare grow deeper, pulling his hand back in order to make another attack, "I don't have time for this!"

"Looks like you'll need to make time," Duke said, "And it looks like you might be fun to fight with for a while. I suppose you'll be a nice warm up before I hunt down Wiley."

"Now who's underestimating someone?!" Madmartigan shouted as he tried for another punch on the mage.

Duke easily flipped his staff around until it came up to meet the fist, knocking his entire arm up and backwards. He used the pirate's distraction from the attack to land another hit, swinging his staff into his gut with the amplified power of his Aftershock Magic on the end of it. Madmartigan let out a painful wheeze as soon as the steel made contact with him, his body being forced backwards into the standing part of the forest. Duke watched as dirt and branches flew up passed where Madmartigan had been flung before hearing the man finally thump hard into a tree trunk.

Duke waited a moment to see if the pirate would coming running back out towards him in a counterattack, but there was nothing but silence, "Is that all you have, pirate?! I thought it would be more fun than this!" he shouted, but he received no answer. Duke shrugged in response before moving to start his trek down the fallen tree path again. He took a few steps before he stopped again, feeling something off in the air. He looked around at the forest around him before looking up to see Madmartigan falling down towards him, "How the hell did you get up there?!" he yelled, having to jump out of the way from the man's attack. Though, the large force behind it caused Duke to go flying forward in his escape. He tripped and promptly fell on his face, slamming into one of the fallen trees. He rolled over with a red mark across his face, the man grabbing onto it and rolling around in pain, "It hurts! It hurts so much!" he cried with little tears at the corners of his eyes.

"You really are an idiot! Wasting time in the middle of battle like this!" Madmartigan shouted, having already moved above him again. Though, this time there was less space between them, giving Duke less time to react. This allowed Madmartigan to finally land a hit on the man, his fist digging into his gut and pushing him down through the trees into another crater.

Duke coughed out blood, fairly certain that at least a few ribs had been cracked from the hit, "Looks like it's time to become a bit more serious," he said lowly, grabbing tightly onto his staff. He moved to swing it into the pirate's stomach again when he came back towards him, but Madmartigan managed to roll sideways to dodge the attack. He landed just inches away from Duke's head, instantly turning to slam a fist into the man's face. Duke ignored the pain his chest and flipped himself up out of the crater, just barely missing the fist. He turned and pushed himself off of the pieces of tree around him to send him flying towards Madmartigan. It looked like he was about to swing the staff into the man's side again, causing the pirate to prepare for the attack and trying to aim another punch at him. Duke, though, quickly spun the staff backwards and ducked lowly. He rammed a shoulder up into Madmartigan before planting the blunt end of the staff into his stomach. Duke smirked before he let a shockwave pulse through the staff, the magic moving up towards the end that was against the pirate. As soon as the shockwave made contact with him, Madmartigan flew up into the air, the man coughing up blood as he did so. His body landed hard, and before Madmartigan had a chance to move, Duke was standing above him, the blunt end of the staff pushed against his throat, "Looks like I win, pirate."

Though, before anything else could be said or done, a heavy thumping could be heard off in the distance. Vibrations could be felt through the ground as something was walking closer towards the pair. Soon, trees could be seen falling off to the left side of the path until they had completely parted to reveal a man that was almost as tall as the fallen trees. His body was thick and bulky, a simple swing of his arm easily being able to knock away opponents with ease. His jaw was long and square, pointed teeth jutting out from his mouth and reaching up passed his nose. Long and thick, dark green hair covered his head in a shaggy mess while droopy, black eyes looked around the area until they landed down on the pair in the middle of the pathway.

"Well…" Duke began, looking the huge man up and down, "You're much bigger than I thought you'd be, Wiley…and uglier."

"Huh?" the man grunted out in a deep voice, "Was that some sort of insult?"

Duke, and even Madmartigan, sweat dropped at his response. The pirate was unsure how useful this man would actually be aside from his obvious monstrous strength, but he still had a job to complete. Barracuda wouldn't be happy if he didn't bring the large man back with him.

"Ya know, I gave you a little credit earlier for setting the trees back up, but in reality, you're actually very stupid," Duke said, "I suppose that'll be helpful in taking you down though. I highly doubt you'll come up with some sort of strategic plan against me."

"Are you making fun of me?!" Wiley shouted, his anger quickly rising.

"Aye! I am!" Duke smiled up at him, "Now, if you could just save us all some time, why don't you hand yourself over to me!"

"Hell no!"

"Eh, it was worth a try," he shrugged, looking back down at Madmartigan, "All right, Maddy. I'll be knocking you out first. I can't be having you attacking me while I'm dealing with dumb-dumb over here. No hard feelings, yeah?"

Madmartigan gnashed his teeth together, feeling only annoyance and irritation for the man above him. While he did have a job to complete, it would be hard to do so when Duke had him pinned down with the threat of a shockwave. Though, it appeared that his luck was beginning to change when a large arm came swinging at Duke. The mage easily flew across the path and into the forest across from Wiley. Madmartigan took the moment to push himself back to his feet, his entire body beginning to feel sore from Duke's attacks already. He took a moment to completely regain his composure before looking up at Wiley.

"Looks like your Troll Magic has some interesting strength behind it, Wiley!" he called up towards him.

"Hmm?" Wiley grunted, looking down at the pirate, "Are you with that man?"

"No, not at all. I actually came here to bring you back with me to the Sawtooth Pirates. Barracuda wants to recruit you into our crew."

"Why would I join anyone? I do fine on my own."

"It's only a matter of time before the Navy finds you. With Barracuda, you could have complete freedom and you'd get to beat up all the people you want."

Wiley seemed to think about the offer for a moment, Madmartigan figuring talking about the most basic of wants with the man would be the easiest way to convince him to come with him.

"And you'll get to eat and drink all you want too."

"Mmm," the man grumbled, rubbing his stomach which hadn't been properly filled since he had come to Midi, "Yeah, all right. You get me off this island as a free man, then I'll join you."

'That was much easier than expected,' Madmartigan thought, "Good to hear. Now, let's get going."

"Like hell it's gonna be that easy," Duke growled, appearing at the edge of the forest. He was leaning up against a tree and holding onto his side. The hit he had received from Wiley had only worsened the pain in his chest that Madmartigan had inflicted earlier, but he had forced himself to continue to ignore the pain as he made his way back onto the battlefield. There was no way he could let a man like Wiley go free and to serve under one of the pirate lords. It would only cause innocent people to die in the future if he didn't.

Duke took in a deep breath before taking off at a full sprint towards Wiley. Madmartigan attempted to block him first, but Duke just jumped up on top of him. His right foot landed on the man's shoulder, Duke using his magic to send a shockwave through it. This helped Duke jump up high into the air while slamming Madmartigan down into the ground. The shockwave had been a heavier hit than he had felt before through the staff, the force being enough to knock his shoulder out of its socket as his body ricocheted on the tree path. Duke was now up above Wiley, coming down at the man with his staff. He slammed the steel onto his shoulder with a blast of his magic, causing Wiley to roar out in pain from the shockwave passing through his entire arm. Duke landed on the shoulder he had hit, the troll man moving his good arm to try to swat him away. The mage simply jumped over Wiley's head, landing another heavy blow on his other shoulder in the process. Duke was about to turn and land a blow on the back of the man's head to knock him out, but Madmartigan appeared in front of him, punching forward with his good arm. Duke flipped away from the pirate, spinning off the back of Wiley and landing behind him. When he landed, he continued spinning until he slammed his staff into the back of his knee, instantly bringing the big man down.

"You're quite the annoyance!" Madmartigan shouted as he came down towards him. Duke had to jump back away from Wiley to avoid the pirate, but because his focus was on Madmartigan, he missed the large fist coming towards him. Wiley punch Duke again, sending him back into a tree at the edge of the forest, the trunk cracking from the pressure of the hit. Madmartigan didn't give him a chance to move as he continued towards him, slamming his good hand into his chest. Duke had managed to use a shockwave to protect himself, the power keeping his ribcage from completely falling in on itself, but he still felt a good amount of pain and pressure from the attack as it cracked the tree even further, "That should do you in. Be a good little mage and stay put now. You lost."

Duke leaned back against the tree as he watched Madmartigan walk away from him and back towards Wiley. His vision blurred in and out and it felt hard to breathe, but he knew that he just couldn't let Wiley get away, "That wanted poster," he coughed out as he pushed himself off the tree, his body arching forward from the pain he felt.

Madmartigan stopped and stared back at the mage in shock, having no idea where he was pulling his strength from after being slammed around by both himself and Wiley.

"It said that I just had to bring Wiley back in with me. It didn't matter how," he continued before using his magic to move himself at a high speed. He quickly made it passed Madmartigan in the blink of an eye and reappearing in front of Wiley, "It could be alive," he said, throwing a hand out and slamming it directly against the man's chest, "Or dead," he finished as he let off a large shockwave directly into the man's chest.

Wiley screamed out in pain the moment the magic touched him. He didn't last long as the shockwave reached his heart and tore it apart in seconds. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as his body fell to the ground, his form quickly reverting back to that of an average man in his death. Silence filled the area for a brief moment before Madmartigan let out an angry shout.

"Do you have any idea what you have just done?!"

"I couldn't let him go, pirate," Duke said, staring at Madmartigan with a straight face, "You lost."

"You've ruined me, mage!" Madmartigan shouted, charging towards Duke, "I didn't have any other choice but to bring him back with me to Barracuda!"

"Then maybe you should have chosen your path in life a little differently," Duke continued in his even tone, "I'm finished playing with you," he said as he readied his staff. He used his magic again to boost his speed in order to appear behind Madmartigan. The pirate stared back at him in shock, watching at the staff came flying towards his back. As soon as the steel made contact, Madmartigan was launched up through the air.

"I'll remember this, Ramirez!" he roared before soaring out of view.

Duke stared at the spot the pirate at disappeared to before turning back towards the dead man across from him, "Tch, this isn't at all how I wanted things to go," he grumbled as he placed his staff on his back again. He took a moment to focus his mind away from the pain his body felt before moving towards Wiley and picking up his limp body, "I didn't want to kill you, ya know," he said lowly as he threw the dead man over his shoulder and began the trek back towards Rosso, "I need a damn drink."

**. : + : .**

"Are you sure you won't stay longer, Duke?" Grant asked after he had handed over the reward for Wiley to the man, "You should really rest after the damage your body has received."

"Nah, I'll be fine," Duke said with a smile, "Your doctor did a good enough job helping me heal enough for me to get back home. Not that I wouldn't trust your doctor to finish the job, but we've got a real good one back on the guild. Plus, I just want to get back home after this mission."

"If you say so," Grant said, "Just make sure to take it easy and stay out of trouble on your journey back."

"It'll be a piece of cake with all this wine!" Duke said with a wide grin, pointing towards the three large boxes that had been given to him as a bonus reward for bringing Wiley in.

Grant smiled in return, "I still feel like it's not enough for your help. Because of what you did, I can now go back to my normal work instead of being stationed here."

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving him off as he climbed down into his boat that was stocked with said wine and his pack, "And don't be a stranger! Come by to visit the guild if you ever get a chance! Especially if we're in your vicinity in southern waters!"

"I'll make sure to visit your guild when I have the chance. Though, I'm sure you won't be coming into southern waters all that much until the Libertatia Pact is in place. I was surprised to see you here because of what has been going on. So please do be careful on your way home."

"You're just like Finn sometimes," Duke said, "Always seeming to worry about nothing."

"Better to be overly worried than not at all. You should know how these waters work."

"And sometimes we have to have faith in people to have good hearts. If you only assume that people are bad, then that's how they will always appear to you. You'll miss out on creating bonds if you're always frowning at people and judging them."

Grant stared at him for a long moment before a warm smile appeared on his face, "I'll keep that in mind. I rather like your sense of hope in humanity, Duke Ramirez."

"I do try my best," he smirked, "Now off I go! I have a beautiful woman waiting for me back at home! And a cute, little baby doll too! It'd be a shame if I made them wait any longer!

"Ah, so you have a child now?"

"No. The baby doll is Finn's daughter," he answered as his own warm smile appeared, "But soon I'll have my own."

"I see. Well, I'm happy for you. I wish you luck in your future."

"And what a wonderful future it'll be."

**. : + : .**

"Yo! Madmartigan! You sure this was the right thing to do?!" a man called out, "The Libertatia Pact was coming close to being finished. You didn't have much longer to wait to take over."

Madmartigan stood watching the huge ship of the Sawtooth Pirates burn, its blaze and smoke billowing up in huge torrents. He had returned with the news of Wiley being killed and Barracuda obviously hadn't taken well to it. Like his failures in the past, Barracuda had attempted to lash out at Madmartigan for it, but the man wasn't taking it this time. Still having anger and hate welling up in his chest for Duke, he had lashed back out at the man. He had learned his magic from Barracuda. He had mastered it and refined it. And while Barracuda was a worthy opponent like any pirate lord should be, he was an old man and he hadn't bothered to keep up with Madmartigan's training for some time. So in the end, Madmartigan had beat his teacher and captain, and with that victory, he had decided to purge the world of all of Barracuda's loyal followers. He had gathered up all the men that had been loyal to himself over the years and they turned on the crew. It ended with the destruction of Barracuda's entire crew and the burning of the ship.

"The Sawtooth Pirates have come to an end. We will not continue with that pathetic title," he said, continuing to stare at the flames, "We will create a new and more powerful crew."

"And the Libertatia Pact?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. Let the world figure out how to deal with its politics. I only have power in mind and I don't need a piece of paper to tell me that I have it."

"So what will we do now and what are we going to call ourselves?"

"We will sail under the name of the Black Skulls," he answered, turning away from the flames to look towards his new crew. His figure was silhouetted in the orange light of the burning ship, his heavy coat billowing out behind him, "And for what we will do now? Well, that's quite simple," he smirked darkly, the fire blazing in his eyes, "Revenge."

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from reven228 for myself (and a few chosen mages):

**Out of all the anime universes, what power would you most like to have?**

**Watson: **So, since this question went with the previous question, I decided to use it for this week's question corner! Plus, it was a really fun question! I've been thinking about it a lot since there are so many things to pick from!

**Eli: **I think you need to get some new hobbies if that's all you're thinking about…

**Watson: **Oi! What the hell is your problem?! It's not like I said it took up all my time! Don't get pissy with me just because you haven't shown up for a few chapters!

**Eli: **I never said I was mad about that! Besides…it helps my incident counter go up. I don't appreciate my misery being your entertainment, Origm!

**Watson: **Don't be rude! Your best friend is his creation! At least someone was made to put up with you…and now we're getting off track! Answer the question!

**Eli: **But I like my power…

**Watson: ***eye twitches* Pick something!

**Eli: **Fine…I'd probably pick Mikoto's Red Aura from K.

**Watson: **….With how you are, you'd probably die in a week….

**Eli: **What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

**Watson: **Nothing! How about we get some other people in here to answer the question! Isaak!

**Eli: **What?! Don't bring that four-eyed jerk in here!

**Isaak: ***slams hand into Eli's face* You rang?

**Watson: **Answer the question please!

**Isaak: **I'm not sure what I'd pick. I'm fairly certain you haven't talked about my answer with Dread, but I do suppose I'd pick Munakata's Blue Aura from K if only to continue to outdo my rival here.

**Eli: **Outdo?! You talk a big game, Marzell! I hope you can back those words up!

**Isaak: **Well of course I can. Someone has to put you in your place. *pushes glasses up with middle finger*

**Watson: ***helplessly watches as a fight ensues between the two men* Every damn time…well anyways! Honestly, I'm a really big fan of metal type powers and I really love dragons, so it'd probably come down to Gajeel's Iron Dragon Slaying powers for me! So that's it for this interview! See you all next week! *explosion goes off in the background* Seriously?! Every damn time! I'm NOT made of money! And I will NOT get caught up in another deal with Euclid!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Grant Warner - MyDearWatson**

**Kronos 'Troll Man' Wiley - MyDearWatson**

Oh man! We're getting closer and closer to the climax of this flashback! I still don't know how I'm gonna do it! But I will! I have to now! T.T

Anyways, I don't have much for this time around, so I'm just gonna jump right into all those awesome reviews!

**Origm2012 - **I know! I'm so terrible! So, so terrible! I'm so upset with myself for what I've done to Duke! But I'm glad some of you were able to pick up on some of those hints…even if they do lead to something terrible! And I'm glad you liked Barracuda, even if he was taken out this chapter…But I'm glad you liked the question corner! So hopefully this one was good too! And this part of the flashback didn't make me as sad as the last one, but I think next week's chapter is gonna kill me! T.T And still no Eli incidents! CHA! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Oh, wow! Look at that! I review the day I updated! Definite surprise attack! And yeah, there was a lot of foreboding in that last chapter. A little bit at the end of this chapter too. Haha, I'm not sure what had to happen to have Nanami dress up as a Super Saiyan, but I thought it was pretty funny, so I'm glad you liked that too! Fairy Tail would probably be my third choice for a world to go to. Though, I'm pretty sure my choice in powers in this question corner weren't much of a surprise, lol. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Benthino - **I think handful of problems is putting it lightly, lol. But yeah, everything's really playing out now and the next chapter is probably gonna be pretty rough. Haha, and sometimes I wish things wouldn't turn out dreadful for the characters, but sometimes things have to happen like that! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **I think it's good to have that bad feeling, especially with how things will be playing out next chapter. But I was excited to see that I pick the right movie for Mia then, lol! Howl's Moving Castle is my favorite Miyazaki movie! ^.^ Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yeah, Duke has it pretty good…for now anyways. And the Big Three will be important some time in the future. All that history stuff that Finn and Duke were talking about will definitely be some important stuff for the story. And like you said, this flashback will be important for history and future purposes. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**mrady - **And good guess, but no, Wiley wasn't part of the guild. It probably would have been interesting if he was, but then Duke probably wouldn't have been killed so easily. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And soon we'll get to see how Cordelia is dealing with all of this…especially with the next chapter. Yeah, there were some definite big signs that Duke should have not gone on the mission. Too bad he didn't listen to any of them…Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**reven228 - **So many things happened in this chapter to lead up to the big thing that'll happen next chapter! But I'm glad you're enjoying the flashback! And it'll definitely have a big impact on how this arc ends too! And thanks again for the question! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yas! More information for the past! Haha, glad you liked the question corner! And I think dread works very well for how you should feel about what's going to happen. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Cat the Alien - **I figured you would enjoy that last chapter with all the history that Finn and Duke were talking about! It just worked so well in that section and so I can starting alluding to things and eventually introducing some things. So thanks again for the awesome ideas you've sent in! And it seems many of you have some ideas on what's happened to Cheyenne, but we should see exactly what happens next chapter! And thanks for the new question! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **Yeah, you should probably listen to that bad feeling to prepare yourself…Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**potentialauthor18 - **Glad you're liking the flashback and all the information that comes with it. A lot of important stuff is discussed in it and it'll be important for the story later on down the line. And yeah, there will definitely be some dark stuff going on here soon…like next chapter soon. T.T But like you said, certain things are bound to happen like that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **Yeah, you better prepare yourself for the feel trip! I finally won't have to be alone on it! T.T Well, I'm excited for you to read through Thunder Stone when you binge on it. I totally get that though. I do that with manga all the time, lol! Because those cliff hangers…Anyways! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	32. Broken Man

**A/N: **Storm's Helm Sunday! CHA!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 32: Broken Man**

**25 Years Earlier**

Finn frowned deeply as he made his way to the main ship of the guild where he was sure Duke would be. His best friend had gotten back to the guild two days ago, looking worse for wear, but at least he had made it back alive. He had told Finn that he had completed the mission without too many problems, his beaten form being a consequence of taking on Wiley, but Finn could tell there was more to his story that he wasn't telling him. He had known Duke for a long time and he could always tell when he was lying and not being completely truthful with him. Finn had let the subject go while Duke was healing and it had seemed that nothing had really come out of his mission, until he had read that morning's paper.

Finn had quickly spotted the table Duke sat at with a few of the other men in the guild, white bandaging still wrapped around his chest. He made a bee line for the table, throwing down the newspaper to have the headline facing Duke, "We need to talk," he said in a low tone that had the rest of the table quickly leaving the area.

Duke glanced over the headline that read 'A Mutiny in the Sawtooth Pirates'. He wore a straight face a moment longer as he looked over the article before forcing a smile up at Finn, "Looks like the pirate got what was coming to him."

"Is that all you really have to say?"

"What do you want me to say, Finn?" he asked, leaning back in his chair as he lit a cigar, "That my mission had something to do with this? I wasn't anywhere near Barracuda's ship and I already gave you the details of my mission."

"I know when you're hiding things from me, you idiot," Finn said, keeping his eyes locked on the man in front of him while Duke had trouble keeping his stare on the guild master, "Something happened on that mission that you're not telling me about. And I also don't think it's just a coincidence that this uprising on Barracuda happened after your mission. So what happened Duke?"

"Nothing happened," he answered, though he was still unable to look Finn straight in the eye.

"Dammit Duke! Stop lying to me!" he shouted, causing the area to clear out even further, "What happened on your mission?!"

"I had a run in with one of Barracuda's men," Duke said in an even tone, finally looking straight at Finn, "His name was Madmartigan and he was looking for Wiley too. Barracuda wanted to recruit Wiley into his crew and Madmartigan was sent to bring him in. I stopped that."

"You said you handed Wiley over to the Navy. Was that dead or alive?"

Duke was quiet for a short moment before he answered, "Dead."

"What were you thinking?!"

"I don't want to hear that from you! When Killian was on this guild, you-"

"Don't throw that in my face! You had just as many bad ties with Killian as the rest of us!" Finn shouted, bringing silence over the place. He let the tension settle that the name had brought up through the entire guild before he continued in a calmer tone, "So now that Wiley is dead and this Madmartigan had nothing to bring back with him to his captain, one can only assume that things went south between the two and Madmartigan was the one that turned on Barracuda."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"It is, considering the amount of power Barracuda held in the south. Now things are going to plummet into even more chaos and when things were so close to being finished with the Libertatia Pact too. Now that will take longer to complete with no sign of a lead power in southern waters among the pirates."

"Wouldn't Madmartigan take over?"

"Does it look like that man wants to take over the Sawtooth Pirates?" Finn asked, pointing down at the picture of the burning ship in the picture, "He wiped them out, Duke. The strongest force of pirates in the south just taken out like it was nothing. He doesn't seem to be the type of man to listen to reason or make any sort of pact with his brethren. That's the type of man you picked a fight with."

Duke went quiet again as he thought things over. It had been something he had briefly worried about on his way back to the guild. Whether Madmartigan would actually get back at him for ruining his mission or not. But then he figured there were always other men out there for Barracuda to recruit. They could always find someone else to take in, so Duke let the worry fade from his mind. Now, though, with the newspaper in front of him and Finn throwing logic in his face, he felt that worry begin to ebb its way back into his mind. Still, he didn't want to fully believe that his mission had been the cause of everything in front of him.

"We still don't know the true reasons for the mutiny or that it was even Madmartigan who did it. I'm sure that Barracuda made plenty of enemies that could have done this to him."

Finn sighed heavily as he grabbed hold of the paper again, "That could be true too, but what reason would those enemies have to attack Barracuda before the Libertatia Pact was made? With that pact in place, it would give Barracuda full control over the southern waters, at least in the pirate world. If they really wanted to take him out, they would have waited until that happened in order to take his place and have the writing in hand that said they were now the rulers of those waters," he explained, seeing that Duke was unable to say anything in response, "Look, I'm really not trying to scare you here, but I think you should be cautious, at least for a while until this blows over and the pact has been made. I'll be contacting Burningham shortly to have him head over into our area."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because if this Madmartigan is the type of man I believe him to be, then it's a possibility that he would head here…for you. I want to have backup in case that happens, no matter how strong you think you are."

"But he's no longer under Barracuda's command. What would he gain out of coming for me?"

Finn stared down at the paper in his hands, his eyes scanning over the picture again before glancing back at Duke, "It's not about gaining something. It's the principle of the matter now," he said before walking off and leaving Duke in his worry.

**. : + : .**

It was just before dawn on the guild, but Duke had been awake most of the night. He stared up at the ceiling of the room he was laying in with Cheyenne asleep next to him. He glanced over at the woman next to him and the doubt Finn had planted in his mind the previous day ignited again. He had a lot to live for now and he had to wonder if he really should have taken that mission or handled it the way he did. If Madmartigan was out for some sort of revenge, Duke had a lot on the line to lose if he came to the guild for an attack.

As if hearing his thoughts in her sleep, Cheyenne woke and slowly turned to face him in their bed. She smiled up at him at first, but it quickly fell when she saw the serious look on his face, "What's the matter?"

Duke didn't know how to answer her at first. As far as she knew, he had only fought with Wiley before turning him into the Navy. He didn't want to worry her over something that could be nothing, but if he didn't give her some sort of answer soon then she would worry regardless, "It's nothing. Just thinking about a lot of things really."

"Duke, I know when yer lyin'," she said, stopping him before he tried to give her a retort, "But I also know when ta leave well enough alone. So whatever's really botherin' ya, ya don't have ta tell me if ya don't want ta. But I hope ya know that ya can tell me anything no matter what it is. Ya know that, right?"

"I know that. When some things have died down, I'll tell you about my worries, all right?" he said, pushing a strand of hair out of her face, "I don't want you stressing out over pointless things."

"I'm sure they're not pointless if it keeps ya from sleepin' all night," she frowned at him, which caused him to frown in return, "But all right. I'll go along with it fer now."

He pulled her in close when he saw she was going to roll back over, "You know that I love you, right?"

"I know," she answered with a soft smile, "And I love ya too."

"Just…always remember that, no matter what happens."

Her brow furrowed at that comment, "Duke? What is that supposed ta mean? Ya make it sound like yer gonna go somewhere."

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise," he said, pulling her in tighter to him, "But I just want to make sure that you'll always know that I love you."

Cheyenne didn't know how to respond to him other than nodding her head and hugging him back as well. She suddenly had a feeling of dread hitting her stomach from his words, as if he knew something bad would happen that he wasn't telling her about. But she knew that she wouldn't be able to get an answer out of him until he was ready.

"So in other news," Duke started, wanting to lift the tension in the air, "I thought up some names while I was away on my mission."

"Ya did?" she asked, having to force the words out of her mouth, "What are they?"

"I thought up more boy names than girl ones, so maybe that's a sign it'll be a boy," he smiled widely, finally bringing out a smile from Cheyenne. He opened his mouth to continue, but a loud crashing sound from the upper decks of the guild interrupted him. He sat up quickly, ignoring the dull pain that was still in his chest from his previous mission. Cheyenne moved with him as another crash echoed into their room. Duke wasted no time jumping out of bed and grabbing his staff that was leaned up against the wall of his room.

"Duke," Cheyenne called out, throwing the blankets off of herself as well. She moved around the bed quickly in time to grab his wrist to stop him from going out the door, "Yer chest. It hasn't fully healed yet."

"I have to go out there to see what's going on," he answered, twisting his wrist free and turning to look at her, "If someone is attacking the guild, I have to help with protecting it."

"But Duke…"

"I'll be okay, so don't worry," he said as he pulled her in for one last hug before leaving, "Just make sure you stay here. I don't want you fighting."

"But Duke, I should be helpin' ta protect the guild too."

"Please Cheyenne," he said in a hard tone, "For my sake and for the baby's sake, stay here this time. Please."

Cheyenne stared him down for a long moment before she gave in with a sigh, "Fine. I'll stay here."

"That's my girl. I'll be back soon."

"Just be careful."

"Always."

And with that, he was out the door.

**. : + : .**

"So this is the infamous Storm's Helm I've heard so much about?" Madmartigan said, smirking darkly as the smoke faded from the bombs he had thrown up onto the middle vessel. The faint morning light from the oncoming sunrise caused a purplish-blue glow to illuminate around Madmartigan and his new crew, the rest of the pirates smiling just as darkly as their captain, "Seems like a poorly put together piece of trash to me. How you all honestly manage to live on this scrap of metal is a mystery to me. Seems almost pointless to take out such a guild when it already appears so weak."

"Then leave," Finn said lowly, facing the man in black with most of his guild members already behind him.

"Oh, so demanding," the pirate said, his smirk seeming to grow, "Although, you should really be careful where you aim those words. You did see what happened to Barracuda in the papers, correct?"

"So you were the one to take him out?"

"Yes, I was, so what do you think will happen to this pathetic guild then?"

Finn called out a large, silver revolver from his re-quip space, one that had 'Murdock' inscribed on one side of it while the other had 'Burningham' on it. He quickly shot off a bullet, the round whizzing right passed the pirate's ear, "Leave. That's the only warning shot you'll get."

Madmartigan stood still for a moment, a frown etched into his face. Though, his frown soon formed into a smirk again, "You really only have one of your own mages to thank for my appearance here today. If he had simply stayed out of my way, then I wouldn't be here."

"You got your freedom from your captain and now run your own crew. You should be thanking my mage instead."

"Yes, but you see, it's the principle of the thing," Madmartigan said, holding out a hand in a position for him to snap his fingers, "He humiliated me, he took away my prize from me and I had to overthrow Barracuda sooner than I had wanted. He took away my moment to prove to the pirate world that you don't need some piece of paper to state you are the strongest. Now that Barracuda is out of the way before the Libertatia Pact is in place, I will never get to have that moment of satisfaction. And that's all thanks to your mage, Duke Ramirez. So I've come to repay him what he took from me. Are you ready to take on his consequences too?"

Finn only narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his gun in response.

"I'll take that as a yes," Madmartigan said before snapping his fingers. With that simple snap, his crew charged Finn and his mages, the two crews clashing hard as they met in the middle of the deck.

Finn had set his sights on Madmartigan, watching as the man in black stayed standing in the background for the time being. Though, he had to fight off the pirates in front of him first to do it, but he didn't have to wait for long for backup to show up. He heard Duke first before he saw him, the man easily knocking pirates out of his way with his staff and magic. In just a few short moments, Duke was standing right next to Finn, huffing slightly from running and pushing his way through pirates to meet him.

"You still need to finish healing, you know," Finn said, shooting off another bullet at a pirate that tried to sneak up behind Duke.

"You know as well as I do that wasn't going to happen," Duke answered as he swung his staff down on a pirate that now tried to sneak up on Finn, "You know you're happy to see me here anyways."

Finn sighed as he called out a long sword from his re-quip space in order to spin and attack an enemy, "You know you're only going to worry Cheyenne by being out here."

"She's a tough girl, so she'll survive," he answered as he turned himself to attack his own enemy, "But what about your wife? I'm sure she's worried about you too."

"Gina's watching over Cordelia. I'm sure if any men make it up to the front of the guild, they'll be wishing they hadn't."

Duke let out a loud laugh at that, "I suppose that Feline Soul of hers can be rather nasty when she wants it to be, especially with her mama instincts kicking in too."

Madmartigan closely watched the two men fighting, knowing he'd have to break them up somehow if he wanted to get a full crack at Duke. He called over a group of his men and ordered them to the head over to the ship where Finn had said his wife and daughter would be at. The captain could only smile widely once Finn caught sight of the men heading towards the front ship.

Duke watched as a look of worry and panic came over Finn's face. He looked to see where he was staring and managed to catch sight of a group of pirates running off towards the front ship. While both Duke and Finn knew that Regina could take care of herself, it didn't stop them worrying any.

"Go on and make sure she's okay," Duke said, pushing Finn forwards.

Finn looked back at him, "What about you? You're not at a hundred percent yet to be able to fight like you normally would."

"I'll be fine. Besides, you'll be no use to me until you go check on your family."

Finn knew he had a point about that and nodded at him, "Just make sure to watch yourself," he said before running off after the pirates.

Duke watched him run off for a moment longer before turning back to his own fights. He continued spinning and slamming his staff into his opponents and in the middle of the melee, he managed to catch a glimpse of Madmartigan staring him down. Duke felt a bolt of anger run through him at the sight of the man, causing him to swing his staff out in a wide arc to clear his path of the other pirates.

"Are you scared to face me on your own, Madmartigan?!" he shouted.

"That's not the case at all," the dark captain answered, holding out his hand to snap his fingers again, "I'm just wearing you down a bit first," he said as he snapped his fingers.

Duke watched as a crowd began to form around him, "I see, so you're playing dirty then?"

"I'm a pirate. It's what we specialize in," he smirked before the crowd of men dove in on Duke.

Duke did his best to keep the pirates at bay, swinging and spinning his staff around to defend himself. Though, eventually he felt blades of knives and sword cutting at his skin, but never enough to critically hurt him, just enough to slow him down. He could feel the blood running down his skin and clothes and that the bandages around his chest were beginning to unwind as well, but he ignored it all as he continued to fight against the pirates. He managed to push some of them away, but they were only replaced with new ones. Some of them were able to use magic too as Duke felt swipes of sharp wind, ice and fire across his skin in place of the blades. When he felt himself stumble from starting to give into the pain on his body, he finally decided to let loose a pulse of his magic to get all the pirates off of him. The shockwave was effective in blowing the pirates away, but it also knocked down some of his fellow mages in the process too, leaving him to defend himself as Madmartigan finally took a step forward. Duke felt his breath coming out in ragged huffs and blood continue to slide down his body as he watched the captain steadily come closer and closer towards him.

"You don't seem so confident in yourself this time, mage," Madmartigan said as he came to a stop directly in front of Duke.

"I'll take on anything you give me, pirate," Duke answered, forcing himself to stand up straight.

"Is that so? You still seem a bit weak after our fight."

"I'm sure you are too."

"Ah, but you're in a much worse condition than I am now," he said as he readied a fist, "It should be much easier to take you down this time," he added before moving to slam a hardened fist into Duke's gut. Duke managed to block it in time with his staff, but he was still sent flying across the deck. And while the steel had managed to take most of the blow, it had been enough to break it in half. Duke coughed hard before he forced himself back to his feet, holding his staff in either hand now, "How noble of you to get back up for a fight you know you can't win," Madmartigan said, "I could have taken your life with that hit, but where's the fun in that? It's not a good enough payback for me. You can't feel humility or failure if you're dead. So I think I'll just take your guild from you instead," he said before slamming a fist into the deck and blowing a hole through it from the force of the hit.

"Stop it!" Duke shouted, running towards the man when he saw he was going to make another hit. Duke swung one of the smaller staffs at Madmartigan, forcing him to move backwards to dodge. He then used the second staff to his advantage and swung back at the pirate with it, the end of it barely managing to catch Madmartigan in the side. The pirate skidded across the deck from the force behind it, but he stood back up much quicker than Duke had been able to do. Duke swung the two ends of the staff in his hands as he took up a fighting stance against the pirate, "Let's go!" he said before charging the man again. This forced the two into a clash of steel-like fists and shockwaves, the added power between the two men continuously meeting one hit after another. Every time Madmartigan threw a punch, Duke would be there to meet it with one of the staffs; and every time Duke would try to slam the steel into the pirate, Madmartigan would be there to block it. Magic constantly exploded outwards from each of their hits, keeping anyone trying to help either of them at bay, unable to break through the force the two men created.

"This isn't getting anywhere," Madmartigan finally said before letting out a sharp whistle.

"You afraid you're gonna lo-" Duke began, but was soon cut off as gunshot went off and he felt something pass through his body. The shock kept him from feeling the pain at first as he looked down to see fresh bullet hole through his lower torso. Once his eyes made contact with the wound, he felt the pain shoot up through him and brought him down to his knees.

"Painful, isn't it?" Madmartigan asked, "But don't worry, I had my sniper shoot in a place to keep you from dying. You'll just suffer miserably while I tear your guild apart."

Duke only answered him with a shot of spit to his shoes, keeping himself from falling over completely by holding his body up with his two staff ends.

Madmartigan made a face of disgust before he planted a boot into Duke's chest to kick him backwards, "But you are rather annoying and I suppose you are the type to come looking for me in revenge, so it may just be better to end you here and now," he said, pulling a fist back and aiming it towards Duke's chest, "Any last words before you go?"

Duke only stared defiantly up at him.

"Such a waste you are, mage," he said as he began to bring his fist down on him.

"Cheyenne! No!"

Duke's eyes widened when he heard Regina's shouts. He looked passed the pirate in front of him to see Regina running as fast as she could to catch up with Cheyenne, but the dark haired woman was much faster at the moment, her speed fueled by her need to reach Duke in time. Duke didn't even have time to call out her name before she had appeared directly in front of him and had taken the hit for him. Duke could hear the cracking of bone in her chest before her body was flung across the deck. He watched her body sail and then skid to a stop, her form unmoving once it had stopped.

"Chey…Cheyenne," he stuttered, hoping that it would get her to move, "Cheyenne!" he called out louder, forcing his body up from the ground and the red stain of blood that had been growing underneath him, "CHEYENNE!" he practically roared as her body stayed unmoving. He finally managed to get his legs moving, the large man stumbling forward to where Cheyenne was lying. He dropped back down to his knees and pulled her up into his arms, "Cheyenne!" he called out again, wanting to see her eyes open. His wish was soon answered as her dark eyes locked onto his, "Cheyenne! You're okay!"

"Duke, I…ya know that I'm not okay," she said softly.

Duke looked over her again to see blood trickling out of her mouth and that her chest couldn't fully rise to take in a breath. Her breathing was steadily becoming more shallow by the second, "It's all right. We'll get the doctor to look you over. You'll be okay."

"Ya know that's not gonna happen either."

Duke felt his teeth clench together as tears began to prick at his eyes, "Why? Why did you do it? I told you to stay in the room!"

"Because I know how ya are when yer fightin'," she smiled softly at him, "Always needin' someone ta watch yer back when ya get reckless."

"I could have handled it! You were supposed to stay in the room! I would have handled it!"

"Duke," she said, reaching up to cup his cheek in her hand, "We both know that hit would have killed ya. I did it because I love ya…and ya still have things ta do here in this world…people that need ya."

"Yeah, but I need you. I need you to stay here with me," he said, his voice growing lower as his tears finally began to spill over.

"I'm sorry, Duke, but I'm gonna have ta leave soon," she said, taking in a breath and coughing out from the pain it caused, "But it's okay. It's okay Duke," she said, trying to wipe away his tears as her own stared, "I got ta be part of this family…and I got ta have a man like ya love me. Ya made me happy, Duke. So it's okay."

"Cheyenne, stay with me," he managed to say in between his tears, laying his forehead against her own, "Stay with me."

"Duke, I need ya ta tell me that ya love me before I go…and ya can't forget that ya have people here that still need ya….ya can't forget about them when I'm gone…ya have to promise me that too," she said, her words becoming faster and panicked as she knew her time was coming to a close soon.

"Cheyenne…"

"Promise me!"

"I promise."

"Good…now…now tell me ya love me…I need ya hear it…one last time."

"I love you…so much."

"Thank ya, Duke," she said, her eyes closing with a smile on her face while tears still ran down it, "I love ya too."

Duke felt her body go limp in his arms, his forehead still pressed against her own while his own tears continued to fall, "Come back. Please, come back. I can't lose you, so just…come back," he repeated, hoping that his broken chanting would ignite life back into the woman in his arms.

Heavy black boots appeared next to him and a haughty voice began speaking, "Well, it seems like I was able to take something away from you after all. What a fallen man you are now, mage. I like this punishment more than your death."

Duke's entire body went rigid in anger as soon as he heard the voice. He didn't move during Madmartigan's ramblings as he let his anger fill his entire being. What happened next was like a blur in Duke's mind as Madmartigan reached for him with his left hand, thinking Duke to be a completely broken man. As soon as his hand had neared him, Duke grabbed onto his wrist tightly in a vice grip. He gently laid down Cheyenne's body and stood up to face Duke, his eyes appearing dark as he stared the pirate down. Madmartigan attempted to make a swing at Duke, but the mage easily met his fist with his own, hearing Madmartigan's bones crunch under the force of the direct hit of his Aftershock magic. Madmartigan yelped out in pain and attempted to pull away from Duke, but his grip only tightened around his wrist. Duke pulled him in to land another punch on his shoulder and then his gut and then his chest, the aftershock mage continuing his assault on the pirate like he was some sort of rag doll.

"Stop! Enough!" Madmartigan shouted, continuing to try and pull away from the man, "I'll make the call to shoot you again!"

Duke's eyes only seemed to darken in response as his hand on the pirate's wrist moved to fully envelope it. Once Duke felt his fingers and thumb touch, he shot a pulse of his magic up through his arm and down to his hand, letting it circle around the hand in his grasp. Almost in an instant, the hand was blown off from his arm, Duke never flinching even as blood splattered across his face. Madmartigan stumbled backwards and landed hard on his butt as he started screaming over the pain, the pirate now holding onto the stub that was his arm as blood poured from it.

"Kill him!" he shouted to his crew members. Though, most of them had been taken out by the guild and the ones that were left had fear written in their eyes from an oncoming ship they had spotted.

"We have to go, Captain," one of his crew members said as they pulled him backwards across the deck towards where their own ship waited.

"No! Kill him first!" he shouted, pointing at Duke who was slowly approaching them.

"There's no time, Captain! Burningham's crew is here and if we stay any longer, we really will be killed!"

Madmartigan continued shouting as his men pulled him away from the guild and onto their ship.

Finn, who had appeared on the scene shortly after Regina, stepped in front of Duke. He had originally been carrying Cordelia with him, but he had handed over his crying daughter to Regina before moving towards Duke.

"There are more important things to take care of right now, Duke. Other…matters to attend to."

Duke looked down at him with an empty stare, not bothering to say anything as he pushed Finn aside and continued walking towards where the pirate's ship had been.

"Duke! Madmartigan won't be coming back! Stop this!"

Duke continued to ignore him as he walked towards the edge of the guild's deck. Finn noticed the way he looked like he was about to jump off the edge to follow the pirate's ship. He knew that Duke wouldn't last long, considering all the wounds he had taken. And they had to take care of Cheyenne's death now. He couldn't let Duke walk away from it all in order to exact his revenge, especially not after that promise he had made to Cheyenne. This was exactly what she didn't want him doing. It would only get himself killed and then her sacrifice would be in vain.

"I'm sorry, Duke, but I can't let you go," he said as he pulled out a large taser gun and aimed it at the man. Before he could reach the very edge of the deck, Finn shot off the gun, letting it stun him for a long moment before releasing it and bringing the large man down in the process.

Silence filled the area as everyone took in what had just happened. The only sound that permeated the air for a long time after that was the sound of Cordelia's cries from her place in her mother's arms, bringing with it a sadness that filled the hearts of the entire guild.

* * *

**A/N: **There we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

And I managed to write it! Even with all that sadness, I managed to write it! T.T

And for time (and feels) reasons, I'll be skipping the usual Question Corner and review responses. It just didn't seem right to put a Question Corner in with that ending. And I don't think I would have been able to come up with something funny after all that anyways. But everything will be back around in the next chapter.

And for those of you that read Thunder Stone, don't worry! I'm working on a little something special for that story. I know I missed out on Thursday, but some things happened, and I wasn't able to get to it. But like I said, I think you'll all enjoy the surprise that's coming for that story!

Well, that's it for this time around!

I'll see you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	33. Promise Remembered

**A/N: **Whoo! A new chapter down!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 33: Promise Remembered**

**April 14, X792 - Night**

Cordelia sat staring down at the open journal that had dropped heavily onto her desk once she had finished reading it. She had her hand loosely wrapped around the glass of whiskey she had been drinking, a thin layer of the brown liquid covering the bottom of the glass. Cordelia couldn't wrap her head around what she had just read for a long time and she had no words to describe what she was feeling at the moment. Her heart ached over the story she had just read, but sadness and anger and grief weren't enough to describe the tightening sick feeling in her chest.

She had never known about any of it, not a single word. To think Duke had something like this in his past, it made sense why he never dated or married when she was growing up. And to think that the man hunting down the treasure map in her possession was capable of something so vicious. She had known that Madmartigan was a dangerous man, but not to this extent.

The thought of Cheyenne's death flared up again and Cordelia felt her hand grasp the glass tightly. Madmartigan had taken everything from Duke. All his hopes and dreams. His entire future and his love. He had so easily ripped apart a man and his entire life in one single moment. She felt her teeth clench at the mere thought of what it would feel like to lose so much in a matter of seconds. It almost made her want to cry. She could feel the wetness building up in her eyes, but she shut them tightly and fought back the sorrow swelling in her chest. In place of that sadness, anger grew. She had no idea how Duke was able to make it through an event like that. Just from almost losing Zinnia earlier that day, she had completely lost her cool. To lose everything like Duke had, it should have drove a man crazy or so deep into a depression that he would never come back out of it. Hell, she had simply read his journal and her heart was breaking. She wanted to be angry for him and she wanted to cry for him. She was facing the same man Duke had twenty-five years ago. That same man was now trying to kill her mages and now she knew how capable he was of doing that. She realized then that Madmartigan had been stringing her along. Playing at her emotions and her protectiveness over her mages. He was trying to break her just like he had done to Duke.

Cordelia let out a roar of a shout from that thought and from the ache still hanging in her heart from Duke's story as she threw the glass at the wall next to her, the tumbler instantly shattering upon impact. She stood, breathing heavily as she watched what had been left of the whiskey drip across the wall and shine across the broken glass. Her head quickly whipped forward when she heard the door to her office open.

Finn stood in the doorway for a moment, looking between the broken glass, the journal and his daughter, "Cordelia," he finally said, the sound of his voice seeming to snap something in Cordelia.

"Madmartigan took everything from him! He broke him! And now he's trying to do the same thing to me! How does someone even come back from something like that?! How was he able to smile at all of us all this time?! Weren't we just reminders of what he lost?!" she shouted, throwing her arms around as she spoke before slamming her fist on her desk, "What am I supposed to do against a guy like that?!" she asked as she fell back down into her seat. She pushed the journal off from the desk to have it land in front of it while she laid her head down on the desk with her hair splayed out across it.

Finn sighed as he walked into the office, shutting the door behind him. He walked across the room and picked up the journal, flipping through it until he found the pages he wanted, "You know," he began quietly, "Duke didn't write in this journal for a year after Cheyenne died. Did you read what he wrote in it after that year?"

"No," she mumbled, keeping her head down.

"Then let me read it for you."

**. : + : .**

**24 Years Earlier**

A small group of mages had arrived back at Storm's Helm in the early evening. They worked to pull their boat up onto the guild, helping each other tie the boat off and get out of it. Though, there had been one mage that didn't take any of the help offered to him. Duke Ramirez easily stepped out from the boat without really looking at the men that had come on the S-Class mission with him. They had wanted the experience of a higher level mission, and with all the other S-Class mages out on their own missions, Finn had ordered Duke to take them out with him on his next mission. The men had seemed a bit hesitant to work with the large man, considering what he had been like for the past year.

Duke had succumbed to his anger and depression, becoming a cold and quiet man that didn't trust anyone around him. While he did not hurt his fellow mages, he no longer felt that bond he had once had with them, everything he used to be being torn apart when Cheyenne had died. Even Finn had trouble getting through to him most times. People had tried to comfort him after Cheyenne's death, but Duke would only lash out in response until eventually everyone left him alone. Once left alone, he had closed in on himself, refusing to open up to anyone, including Finn and Regina, despite the last wishes of Cheyenne. Nothing seemed to matter anymore now that she was gone and it had almost seemed pointless to continue on without her. Finn had to stop him from drinking himself to death several times while throwing it in his face how disappointed Cheyenne would be in him. This would rile up Duke enough to have him trying to fist fight Finn, but with the large amount of alcohol pumping through him, it didn't even come close to a fair fight. Eventually Duke lost interest in drinking and everything else around him, an empty and distant look covering his face at all times. The only reason he took missions was because Finn told him to and he seemed to move on instinct rather than actual awareness. Finn had hoped that going on missions, especially with other people, would start to bring back a spark of life to him, but Duke had only continued existing in the limbo he had created for himself.

So it wasn't a surprise for Finn to watch the team get off the boat together with Duke walking slowly in the background. He sighed heavily upon seeing that the mission had done nothing to help his friend come out of his depression, even at least a little. Finn understood why Duke had turned into the person he was now and he wouldn't give him grief for it, but he also knew that Cheyenne would hate seeing him the way he was now. She was probably shouting at him from heaven now if she was watching him, and Finn wished that her voice could break through the sky and hit his friend full force, but that wasn't going to happen and Duke had to learn to deal with the reality of things somehow other than closing off everyone.

"Cordelia!"

Finn turned slightly when he heard Regina shout after their now almost two-year-old daughter. Every since Cordelia had learned how to walk, she had been on the move constantly. She was a rather curious girl and she was always getting into trouble. Finn sighed over the memory of one of the chefs on the guild carrying a flour covered Cordelia back to him last week, the girl simply sneezing out the white dust when she came face to face with her father.

And even if she had been very young when it happened, Cordelia had been affected by Duke's change in personality. He had been the open and loving uncle figure for her, so when he suddenly stopped coming around and playing with her, Finn could tell that his daughter had felt hurt over it. He could see the sadness that filled her eyes every time that Duke walked by and didn't even look at her. But the little girl had seemed determined to be around the large man, much to her mother's dismay. Regina had been worried what Duke might do around the tiny girl. Not that she actually believed he would hurt her, but she just couldn't tell with the man anymore, not with the way he was now, so Regina did her best to keep her daughter close by. Though, Cordelia constantly had plans of her own to go do what she wanted, being a rather independent two-year-old.

Finn watched as his daughter stumbled her way through the crowd of mages that filled the main ship. He wasn't too worried as all the mages on board the guild knew exactly who Cordelia was and usually kept an eye out for her if she was wondering off on her own. Though, Regina worried much more than her husband, the woman trying to fight through the crowd of people, but Cordelia was much smaller and could weasel her through the crowed much easier. Finn continued watching the scene, wondering what his daughter had going on in her mind for the day. She seemed to be rather determined, much more than she normally was.

Cordelia eventually squeezed her way through the crowd, popping out from in between the legs of two men to trip and stumble forward until her face slammed into the solid muscle of a leg. She grabbed onto her nose, little tears appearing at the corners of her eyes from the pain she felt. She sniffed a few times, but she quickly caught herself when she looked up to see it had been Duke she had run into. He slowly looked down at her, his eyes still carrying that empty sheen in them. Mages in the area had quieted down as they watched the scene with careful eyes, curious and yet cautious on what would happen next.

Though, Cordelia didn't seem to feel an ounce of hesitation as she stared back up at Duke. The two continued to watch each other for a long moment before Cordelia finally smiled widely up at him, "Duke," she said like she had been practicing with her father for several months. She then reached her arms up to him, "Up! Up, up!" she repeated quickly while bouncing on her tiptoes in hopes that he would bend down and pick her up.

Duke stared down at her with his blank stare, but inside a feeling of surprise filled him. It was the first time he had heard her call him by his name. He had vaguely remembered several conversations about teaching her his name before curse words and it looked like it had happened without his notice. A sadness quickly followed his surprise, as he should have been the one to teach her his own name and he had now missed out on that. He quickly realized that she was standing next to him on her own, showing just how far she had come in her mobility and the fact that he had missed that too. Just how much had he really missed in the last year since Cheyenne's death?

"_Ya can't ferget that ya have people here that still need ya…ya can't ferget about them when I'm gone."_

Cheyenne's words rang out in his mind, breaking through the wall he had built up over the last year. He felt himself shatter all over again, but it wasn't from the thought of his dead lover. It was over the fact that he had let himself forget. He had forgotten about everything and everyone around him for the past year. He had been so focused on his anger and grief, that he left behind everyone else, especially those that still needed him.

"Duke!"

He felt himself being pulled out of his darkness at the sound of the little girl's voice. He felt himself be pulled away from the shattered pieces of himself and placed back into the light. While he could still feel fragile cracks in him, he could feel those cracks ever so slowly begin to heal when a pair of small hands hit against his leg in order to gain his attention.

"_Ya have ta promise me."_

It had been so easy to forget that promise in his darkness. It had been easier to forget everything and fall in on himself than to face reality, to face Cheyenne's death. But because of the little girl in front of him, he realized that he could no longer do that. He would miss everything if he did, and when he finally met his maker and reunited with Cheyenne in the afterlife, he knew that she would hate him for what he had become. He couldn't stand the thought losing everything all over again. He wouldn't be able to handle it a second time and his soul would break if Cheyenne turned away from him when they would eventually meet again.

"Up!" Cordelia pushed, "Duke, up!"

Duke looked down at Cordelia, really looking at her this time, seeing how much bigger she had actually grown over the year. She looked like she was about to cry out of frustration from the man not reacting to her at all and Duke felt a wave of guilt hit him for forgetting about her and the people around him. But along with that guild, a light returned to his eyes. He dropped his bag down onto the deck and moved to pick the girl up, easily swooping her up with one arm. Her frustrated face turned back into a bright smile when he finally reached down for her and brought her up to eye level, her big blue eyes locking onto his green ones.

"Hey there, baby doll," he said, his voice low and raspy from not having used it very much for the last year.

Cordelia seemed to light up at the nickname he used for her, moving into to hug him, "Duke," was all she said as she hugged him and sighed against him in comfort and contentment.

Duke felt his eyes well up with tears, surprised that he had any left in him. He gently hugged the little girl in return, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you wait so long, baby doll. But I remember my promise now," he said before clenching his teeth in hopes of holding back the tears, but they came rolling down his face regardless. It felt good though. He felt alive again. Even if he could feel the sadness of Cheyenne's death welling up in him again, he felt alive and that's what mattered.

**. : + : .**

**April 14, X792 - Night**

Finn closed the journal once he finished with the entry and laid it on the desk just as Cordelia lifted her head from it. She stared out at the floor for a moment before she looked up at her father, unsure of what to say. Finn seemed to pick up on this and began to speak in her place.

"Duke went through more heartache than anyone should have to. I watched him literally become nothing because of Madmartigan. So no, he shouldn't have been able to come back from something like that. And yes, you probably were a reminder of what he had lost," he said, taking a pause to let his words sink in, "But despite everything that happened and how he felt, Duke came back into the light. He could smile at you because you were the thing he lost. He might not have had his own child, but you and Ace and everyone else became his kids. So even though Madmartigan took away Cheyenne, he still had you. In the end he won against Madmartigan because he continued smiling and he continued loving and he continued to have a future," he said, watching his daughter's eyes go wide at his explanation, "So you want to know how to win against a man like Madmartigan, you do exactly the opposite of what he wants. You want to know what to do from here, to know which direction to step in? You go in the direction that pisses that man off the most and you win against him in the end. You play him along just like he did to you and then you land the final blow on him while smiling in his face the whole time."

Cordelia stayed quiet, feeling amazed that her father had put the answer in front of her so plainly. Though, she still couldn't help but worry over her mages, but Finn seemed to pick up on this as well.

"You afraid of your mages being hurt in the process?" he asked, earning a nod from her, "Well don't be. If you show you're afraid for them, then they'll just be afraid too. You stand strong against Madmartigan and they'll stand strong with you. You have that way about you, Cordelia. Whatever you feel will portray onto others. That is a huge advantage you have over Madmartigan. Do you understand that? If you feel strong against him, then so will your mages. What do you think will happen when Madmartigan and his crew have to stand against a guild full of pissed off mages?"

Cordelia thought over his words, knowing he was right. Lately, she had let herself feel doubtful and she let Madmartigan pull her along the way he wanted. He really would win if she continued that way and the thought of the pirate winning pissed her off more than anything.

Finn watched as a look of determination with a hint of anger came over her face as she stood from her desk, causing a satisfied smiled to appear on his face, "Where are you going?"

"I need to go see one of my mages," she answered before throwing the door open and stomping out of the room.

Finn's smile grew as the man chuckled lightly, "I impress myself sometimes."

**. : + : .**

Cordelia made it a point to walk across the main vessel instead of taking the side ships to reach the infirmary. This path allowed many of her mages to see the change in her demeanor compared to how she had looked when disappearing into her office earlier. She walked with her back straight and her head held high, that deep determination set in her eyes. Many mages stopped and watched her as she passed by their tables and made her way to the bridge that connected with the side ship that held the infirmary.

She soon made it down to the infirmary, quickly gliding down the stairs before busting open the door. Jack and Zhuue stopped what they had been doing to look at her in surprise. Zinnia had been awake as well, laying in one of the hospital beds. The brunette stared at Cordelia in surprise as well, but she also felt a little worried that she was about to start shouting at her.

Cordelia locked eyes with Zinnia for a short moment before she started shouting, "Zinnia! You better make sure your ass heals as soon as possible! We have a treasure hunt to finish and I don't need any bums laying around doing nothing! Got it?!"

"Yes!" she squeaked in answer.

"Cordelia, I don't believe now is the time to-"

Jack was quickly cut off when Cordelia sent him a heated stare. He quickly took a step back before she continued speaking, "And just so you know, we're gonna get the Black Skulls back for what they did to you! I'll make damn sure of that! They'll see what happens when they cross Storm's Helm! So you best be in a fighting condition soon too! Ya got that?!"

Zinnia finally let a smile appear on her face upon seeing the spark back in her friend, "Yes ma'am!"

"Good! Now I need food! I'm starving!"

With that, Cordelia turned out from the infirmary, leaving it in as much wild confusion as she had brought to it. Though, Zinnia laughed loudly despite the pain in her stomach. It was good to see her best friend all riled up again.

Cordelia stomped back up to the main vessel and made her way to one of the bars, slamming down a hand, "OI! Give me a beer and a meal! And don't be skimping out any anything!"

"Uh…Cordelia?" Eli asked, appearing behind her with a few others, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is great! We're on the hunt for treasure, aren't we?" she asked, looking back at her mages, "And we're gonna take that treasure from some lame pirates too! We'll shove it in their faces and swim in the treasure right in front of them! It'll be a grand and amazing adventure!"

The rest of the crowd stood silently as they exchanged glances, wondering where the change in their guild master came from. Seth was the first person to step forward, letting out a booming laugh as he lifted her on top of his shoulder.

"You bet it's gonna be a great adventure! We'll show those pirates who's boss!"

"Exactly! The treasure will be ours and we'll be set for life!"

"Treasure! Lots of treasure!" Gamu said from Seth's other shoulder.

"That's it!" Cordelia smiled brightly, "No matter what they do, no matter how many times they knock us down, Storm's Helm will keep coming back! We'll keep fighting and we'll win against those stupid pirates! So eat and drink and be merry knowing you're a mage of Storm's Helm! We'll show them just exactly what it means to make an enemy out of us!"

People finally cheered in response to her declaration, a wave of mugs rising into the air and smacking together.

"What a speech, my lovely Cordelia," Ingrid said as she sashayed up to Seth's side and ran a hand down Cordelia's leg.

Cordelia shouted in response, her teeth turning sharp momentarily as she snapped at the woman.

"I have not seen this side of you for a while. It is much more wonderful when you act more like yourself," she smirked up at her, "Speaking of which, we have not had competition for some time either. I am really beginning to think you have forgotten about me in your path to guild master."

Cordelia jumped down from Seth's shoulder to stare the woman down, "You bring on any competition and you're gonna lose! Like I'd forget someone as irritating as you!"

"Well, you did say you were hungry, correct?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Then why not a food challenge this time around, my lovely Cordelia?"

"You'd actually want to do a food challenge?"

"Of course. And I will win with my manners in tact. So how about it?"

"Bring it on!"

"Great. Bartender," Ingrid said, snapping her fingers, "I know you all caught some delicious crab today. We need you to cook everything you caught for our little competition tonight."

"Uh…all of it…?"

"You heard her!" Cordelia shouted, "Do it! Now!"

The bartender jumped at the bark of command, running back to the kitchen to give the chef the orders. In a matter of minutes, loud cursing could be heard from the kitchen from the ridiculous order, but they could hear the cooking starting by the way pots and pans were being thrown around.

"You have such a way with words, my lovely guild master," Ingrid purred, rubbing a finger under Cordelia's chin.

Cordelia simply hissed and swatted her hand away before jumping into another argument with the woman. People crowded around them while they waited for the contest to start while more mages across the deck laughed and drank and ate, everyone suddenly feeling more lighthearted and happy than they had in days.

**. : + : .**

A large man watched the guild from the black ship of the Black Skulls, an overly wide grin spreading across his face. The smile wasn't malicious or dark in any way. It was more of a show of excitement from watching the hyped up guild. It made his own excitement burst forth, the man more than ready to take his turn with the guild, if only to get a good fight out of them.

"Mingo!" the man shouted to the blonde that stood right next to him.

Mingo covered his ears at the shout before glaring over at the man, "I'm right here, you know," he grumbled.

"I do get to go next, right?!" the man continued, ignoring the blonde's comment.

"Yeah, you do."

"Good! I hate waiting! Just make sure no weasel sharpshooters or vengeful mechanics come barging in on my fight! You know that's not how I do things!"

"Fine, fine. Just stop shouting," Mingo said, "But I think you're just what they need after the last few days. Do them right, Atlas."

The man boomed out in laughter, "So long as I get to fight one on one, then you have nothing to worry about, Mingo! Trust me!"

"I'm glad to hear it," Mingo said, smiling at the man. Though, his smile quickly fell as he looked back out across the sea towards the guild. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything to make up for what had happened earlier that day, but at least this would give them a fair fight for once. He trusted the man next to him enough to do that.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from Origm2012 for Hagi:

**Are we ever going to see one of your dates in action?**

**Hagi: **Maybe if someone would give me some time to do so!

**Watson:** Look here! I'm not in the mood to deal with this today!

**Hagi: **But it's not fair! I have so much potential to set people up and make them look fantastic and create wonderful dates for them, and you won't even give me a chance!

**Watson: **I've had other things to worry about! You saw the flashback! That took a lot of work!

**Hagi: **You only made people cry with that! I make people smile and fall in love!

**Watson: ***eye twitches* It was important to the story! I had to do it!

**Hagi: ***starts crying* You just don't love me anymore!

**Watson: **WHAT?! What the hell?!

**Mia: ***comes racing in from off screen* You made him cry?! What a horrible person you are!

**Watson: **WHAT?! WHY IS THIS MY LIFE?!

**Mia: **You should be ashamed of yourself! Come on, Hagi, we'll go get some ice cream and talk about possible dates in the future since someone WILL be giving him time to put them into action! *walks off screen with Hagi, the blonde looking back at Watson with a sly smile*

**Watson: ***freezes in silent scream upon seeing smile*

**Producer: **Would someone please come get her off the set?! We have other things to work on after this!

**Seth: ***laughs as he picks up a still frozen Watson* You should really know better than to pick a fight with Hagi. *turns to audience* We'll see you all next week!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you enjoyed it!

So I think that was a nice way to wrap up all the flashback stuff and to start stepping into our next clue and Black Skull member. I thought I was going to be able to fully introduce the next member, but all the other stuff took a little longer than I thought, but I still really liked the way this chapter turned out, so I hope you all enjoyed it too.

Not much else to say this time around, so I'll jump right into those reviews!

Thanks to everyone that reviewed last chapter!

**CrazyAnimeForever - **Yep, got some definite drama going on with the past few chapters. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Well it's good to know I've got a timing down for the updating, haha! Fufufu! Always expect the unexpected! So of course I had to drop another name in there! Just remember that name, Killian, it'll be rather important later on. That's all I can say for now. I was actually really glad that I ended up writing that chapter at home instead of out at a coffee shop or something since I actually started crying while I was writing it. (That probably sounds pretty lame, but it happened, lol.) So I'm glad that same feeling of sadness came across in it for you as a reader. I was really nervous about that chapter since it had the character death and everything in it, so I'm really happy to see it turned out well, despite all the sadness in it. And I'm glad all the fighting itself turned out well too. And I hope this last little flashback in this chapter lived up to the rest of the flashback in the past chapters. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **I couldn't bring myself to do a Question Corner for the last chapter, so no worries on not being able to add in some humor to your review, lol. But definite emotional chapter and we finally got to see everything that Duke went through. Poor guy! But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Momochan77 - **I'm sorry! I was crying too when I wrote it! T.T And working through Cordelia's reaction was a bit hard, but hopefully it turned out well. And I have plans already for Mia and her romantic life. ^.^ But I don't think Duke could bring himself to be romantically involved with someone again because of what he went through, but don't worry, he's okay! He's got a whole guild to love him! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**silverhawk88 - **Yep, Duke lost everything in seconds because of Madmartigan. But yeah, he sees the rest of the younger generation of the guild as his kids because he lost his own. And we'll have to wait and see when Duke makes his reappearance at the guild. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**reven228 - **Super emotional chapter for sure. So hopefully this chapter was just as good! And is that ice cream question for the Question Corner as well? Just wanting to make sure! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**XLil MEkoX - **I know! Those feels! I still can't believe I did that to Duke, but there it is! But yeah, Cheyenne should have thought that through a lot better, but there's no going back now. Poor Duke! T.T But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! And I hope you enjoyed this one too!

**Benthino - **All three of those words fit that last chapter perfectly! Poor Duke! But I'm glad you still enjoyed the chapter nonetheless! And I hope you enjoyed this one too! (I quite enjoyed picturing the look on Jack's face when Cordelia busted into the infirmary, lol!)

**LightandDarkHeart - **It about killed me too! I don't know what I decided to do that to Duke! I cried myself while I was writing it! But I don't think you have to worry. I'm pretty sure Cordelia is dead set on winning against Madmartigan now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Super sad chapter for sure! And yeah, I think many of you had an idea of what was gonna happen, but actually reading it (or writing it in my case) is a bit different. But yeah, Duke got lucky that Finn had enough sense to stop him when he did. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dreadburner94 - **Geez, you and your procrastination, lol! But yeah, that was a sad chapter, even if you knew what was going to happen. I was glad that I ended up writing it at home rather than out at a coffee shop or something since I ended up crying a bit over it, haha! And yep, there were some more hints in there about later stuff to come! Glad you picked up on that! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around.

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	34. The Wrestler

**A/N: **What?! A surprise chapter?! I think so!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 34: The Wrestler**

**April 16, X792 – Morning**

Cordelia hummed as she messed with Bones on the deck of the front, white ship, smashing his cheeks together before pushing the loose skin of his face back and popping his ears up. She laughed at the unamused stare the pit bull seemed to send her. She relaxed the grip she had on him before kissing him on the nose and standing up to see the island of Tonituri coming into view. While the thunder island had been relatively close to Fulgur and they could have easily reached its shores the previous day, Cordelia had ordered that yesterday was a resting day before they dove back into the hunt. After everything that had happened, physically, mentally and emotionally, the guild master thought it was only right that they take a day of rest. No one seemed to complain about this, using the new free time to do as they pleased for the day. But now Cordelia had the guild back on the move again and it seemed that most of her crew was more than ready for another adventure, especially with their guild master in a more uplifting mood.

"Cordelia," Sam called out, the young man coming to stand beside her, "I think it was wise of you to take a day off yesterday."

"I think so too," Cordelia smiled at him, "I feel much better because of it, so I hope everyone else does too."

"I am sure they do."

"Ya know, Sammy," she said, chuckling lightly when she watched him twitch at the nickname, "If things ever get that heavy again, you are allowed to step in and tell me to step back and take a break."

"Are you certain about that? I feel like you might yell at me if I do," he said, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face.

"Is that a smile I see?" she said, watching as the faint smile quickly disappeared, "And yeah, I probably will snap at you, but you should probably keep in mind that I normally never mean anything by it…well not for you anyways," she said, her eye twitching at the picture of a smirking Ingrid in her mind. It still infuriated her that the woman had won their eating contest the other night. Now she would have to think about a new contest to win against the woman, "But it would be better for everyone for you to remind me when things are getting too hectic. I take your advice seriously. You should remember that."

Sam stood in silence as he thought over her words, momentarily feeling happy that someone actually cared to listen to the things he had to say. Though, his happiness was quickly ended by Cordelia's next comment.

"Sam, are you not getting sleep again?" she asked, peering over at the boy with a careful stare, "You're looking kinda worn out. At least from what I can tell by the growing bags under your eyes. I hope you're not staying up late to review information again."

Sam looked worried for a moment, thinking that no one would notice his lack of sleep, especially with the treasure hunt going on. He quickly recomposed himself before he answered, "Ah, yes well, Matilda gave me some new maps to review, so I have been going over those for the past few days. I tend to lose track of time when I am studying something new."

Cordelia watched him for a moment longer, not fully believing his story, but also not having the time to look into it at the moment as the guild was coming into a port. Cordelia tucked the thought away for later, knowing she'd have to catch up with Matilda to make sure the woman had actually give Sam those maps. For now, she let the subject go with a sigh.

"All right, well make sure you get some sleep some time today or tonight. Both Matilda and I are more than capable of taking care of the navigating and such while you get some rest," Cordelia said as she began to walk towards the bridge at the back end of the ship, "And that's an order from your guild master!" she called out before she and Bones began walking across the bridge, leaving Sam to sigh heavily before he returned to the navigation cabin.

**. : + : .**

Cordelia made her way up onto the main vessel of the guild, watching everyone stare at something that was on the island near the docks. She would have called out to them, but a booming clap of thunder cut her off. She jogged up to the growing crowd as more and more people stood to watch whatever was going on. She began pushing her way through the crowd until she popped out at the front. She cocked her head to the side as she watched a group of men work quickly to build some sort of fighting ring. The platform of the ring was white and solid, standing at least a good six feet up off of the ground. Four posts were hammered into the corners of the square platform followed by three thick rubber bands being run around the posts. The men took a moment to take a breath before posing triumphantly next to their successful work.

"Uhhh…did they just build a wrestling ring?" Cordelia asked before another crack of thunder echoed across the sky. She looked over to Ace, who had moved to stand next to her at the head of the crowd. He gave her a shrug of his shoulders before they looked back towards the scene in front of them.

The booming of music quickly took the place of the thunder. Overdramatic, heavy rock music began blaring with the thumping beats of the drums seeming to match the level of the thunder that encased the island. The morning light dimmed as an overly large black sheet was thrown up behind the ring as lights began to flash.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" one of the men that had built the ring began announcing in a loud and hyped up voice, "Prepare yourself for the fight of your life!" he continued as a shadowed figure began walking up a ramp that led into the ring. A large muscular form could be seen from the figure as it walked higher and higher up the ramp, the figure striking poses as it moved, "Because the world will shake and men will bend to the power that is Jimmy Ryans!" they shouted as the figure jumped up into the sky before slamming back down into the ring, "Better known as the world's greatest fighter, Atlas!" they finished as fireworks flew up into the air and the lights all shined down on the man in the ring who was posing with one knee bent while the other leg was straight along with his arms curled upwards, showing off the thick muscle of his body.

Atlas was a thirty-three year old man that stood taller than even Seth at seven feet. He had short, messy brown hair while his eyes were a striking, sharp blue. His heavily tanned skin covered thick layers of muscle, the man looking like he could break a person in half with his bare hands. The only piece of clothing he wore was a pair of flashy pants that were bright orange in color with a yellow, zigzag pattern running down the legs.

"Yes! Gaze upon the champion! Do you know why I'm the world's greatest?!" Atlas boomed out, shifting his pose as he did so. And while he received no answer from the guild, he didn't falter or look disappointed as he continued, "Because I smash down all my opponents with my bare hands! You know why that is?!" he continued, once again changing his manly pose, "Because a champ doesn't need weapons to win! I do it all on my own and that's why I'm the best there will ever be! Be overcome and cry in the presence of the glory that is the world champion, Atlas!"

The entire guild was silent as they stared at the scene before them, many of them having sweat drops rolling down their heads. The only sound that passed through the two groups for a good five minutes was the rolling thunder in the sky.

"Boss! It looks like you shocked them into silence! You're amazing!"

"Of course I'm amazing!" Atlas said, laughing loudly as he moved into a new pose, "I'm be the best there ever was! It's hard to take in all this magnificence!"

Cordelia finally couldn't take it anymore and laughter was soon bubbling up and out of her. It started softly at first until she was letting out roars of laughter, having to lean on Ace to keep from falling over. Ace joined her laughing instantly, the siblings leaning against each other for support. The laughter began to spread throughout the guild until the roar of their laughter could be heard even over the thunder.

"Oh! This is too much!" Cordelia said, holding her stomach with one hand, "I can't take it! Who is this guy?!"

"It's hard to take in all this magnificence!" Ace said, mocking the large man, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"You dare laugh at the great Atlas?!" the men standing around the ring shouted at the guild.

"It's all right men," Atlas said, "There have been many that have laughed at me before, but you know where they end up?! At the end of my great and almighty fist!"

This statement only had the guild rolling in laughter all over again.

Cordelia managed to compose herself enough to stand up on her own, but a few laughs still managed to escape her lips as she spoke, "Please don't tell me that you're from the Black Skulls and you're here for the map?!"

"Those may be the orders I have," Atlas began, "But I am here for a grand and glorious fight first! If any think you can handle me, take a step into my ring! I hope you have someone worthy enough to fight me!"

Cordelia coughed as she tried to fight back her laughter again while turning to look at her guild. She then pulled out the map from her coat to read over the clue again, "Finding a spirit of wishes and playing his game, hmm," she pondered, going over names in her head of who would be best to send onto the island. She felt a weight on her back and she glanced up to see Ace leaning on her to glance down at the clue, "Definitely not you," she mumbled, earning a flat stare from her brother, "And we'll probably need a team to deal with…that," she said, looking back at the still posing Atlas. She snorted in laughter again before turning back to the clue only to come face to face with light blue eyes.

"Having some trouble, angel?"

Cordelia jumped back in surprise upon seeing Isaak right in front of her, happy that her brother had been there to catch her, "Don't do that!" she snapped, bonking the man on the head.

"You should be more aware of things," Isaak said with a smirk, rubbing the top of his head where he had been hit.

"Whatever," she mumbled before realization hit her, "Isaak!"

"That is my name."

"Guess what you get to do!"

"Please don't say that I have to fight the man in the ring. I already have my hands full with Eli."

"What was that, you four eyed card loser?" Eli said lowly, having appeared behind Isaak just in time to hear his remark.

"Ahaha, did you hear something?" Isaak asked, "It sounded an awful lot like an idiot that needs to come up with better insults."

The temperature in the area quickly began to rise after Isaak's comment, but Cordelia quickly ended the fight before it turned into a brawl by slamming a hand into Eli's face, "Cool it!" she said, "I need Isaak for today's clue, so back off!"

Eli stared down the silver haired mage still smiling at him, but kept himself from lashing out at him.

"So you need my help then, angel?" Isaak said, making sure to add on the nickname just to get under Eli's skin. It seemed to work as he watched the fire mage twitch in annoyance.

"Yes, I do," she answered, turning towards him to hand him the map, "I need you to find the spirit of wishes the clue talks about and then play whatever game it is that it has planned. You're smart enough to handle that, right?"

"Of course, but it may move quicker if I have some help. Just not any idiotic help," he said, glancing back at Eli.

The temperature began to rise again until Cordelia's hand tightened around Eli's face, her nails biting into his skin.

"I would ask that you refrain from teasing him until you figure out the next clue," Cordelia said, a vein ticking on her forehead.

"If that is what you wish."

"Cordelia!"

The group's attention was pulled to the right when they saw a huffing Jean heading their way. The blonde man came to a stop right in front of the guild master with folded arms and Rin standing close behind him, the younger man having been teasing Jean a moment ago.

"What is it? I'm in the middle of something here," Cordelia answered.

"I must make a complaint! How is it that I've become S-Class finally and yet I have seen less action than when I was a normal mage?"

"Seriously…you're gonna do this right now?" Cordelia said. Though, she quickly remembered Isaak's request of having other people help him and a sly smile appeared on his lips, "Well, if you're so anxious to do something, then you get to help Isaak out for the day with figuring out the next clue!"

Jean and Isaak exchanged glances, unsure about how they felt with working together.

Though, Isaak soon smiled at the blonde, "He is better than some fiery buffoon."

"Isaak!" Cordelia snapped, feeling her hand heat up this time until she eventually had to let go.

"Looks like that one slipped," he said, laughing as he rolled up the map and tucked it away in his coat, "Let's head out, Jean."

"I suppose this will do for now," Jean said, glancing back at Cordelia, "But I hope to have a decent mission once this hunt is finished."

"Yeah, yeah," Cordelia said, doing her best to keep Eli back from Isaak. She then noticed Rin staring over at Jean and Isaak, frowning slightly, "Oh! And take Rin with you too!" she said, watching as the young mage lit up in excitement, "I'm sure he'll be helpful too!"

Jean gave a quick glare over at the top hat wearing mage, but didn't fight the orders that had been given to him. The three men quickly began making their way down to the docks after that, finally giving Cordelia the moment she needed to smack the fire mage on the head.

"What did I say?!" she snapped at him, "Chill out!"

"Tch," was all he replied with as he rubbed the back of his head.

"So that covers the team for the clue, but what about the team to deal with…that?" Ace asked, pointing over at Atlas.

"I am becoming bored!" Atlas shouted up at them, "I will come aboard your ship and pick an opponent myself if one does not step up! But I do hope that someone within your guild has the courage to take on a great champion such as myself!"

"If you do not mind, Miss Murdock," Kasra said, stepping up to the guild master, "It would be my pleasure to deal with that fine wrestler down there," he said, eyeing the large man down in the ring.

The Murdock siblings made a face at the same time at his comment, knowing what he really meant by it, before Cordelia smiled up at the man, "You are welcome to do as you please, Kasra."

"Wonderful," Kasra smiled widely, keeping his eyes locked on Atlas's muscles.

Ace looked over at Cordelia with slight worry, "Maybe you should send someone with him to make sure some actual fighting gets done."

"Maybe you're right," Cordelia answered, "And since we sent three men out on the other team, might as well make it three for this team," she said, scanning over the crowd.

"Oh man, what a fucking loser," Gordon said, still laughing over Atlas.

"Oi! Metal head!" Cordelia shouted.

Gordon froze when he heard his name come out of Cordelia's mouth. He looked over at her slowly, seeing a wicked smile on her face as thunder cracked across the sky.

"It's time you start helping out with this treasure hunt! It's your fault that we're in this predicament in the first place! Go fight the wrestler!"

"What?! Hell no!"

Cordelia walked right up to Gordon, the smile still on her face, "Are you defying your guild master?"

"So what if I am?"

"You're going whether you like it or not."

"I'd like to see you try and make me go."

In a flash, Cordelia called out a gun from her re-quip space and shot it off at Gordon. He had squeezed his eyes shut, thinking that he was going to feel some sort of pain. Though, the only thing he felt was something sticking to his forehead. He looked up to see that a red suction dart was stuck to his forehead.

Cordelia started laughing loudly, "You actually thought I was gonna shoot you for real!"

Gordon's face flared red in anger and embarrassment, but before he could reach out to make a grab for her, he was swooped up and lifted over a shoulder.

"I'll be taking that third spot then," Seth said, smiling down at Cordelia while locking Gordon in place over his shoulder, "A wrestling match looks like fun."

Cordelia smiled in response, "Watch over Gordon and Kasra then, would ya? You know how they can get."

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Gordon shouted, "And put me back on the damn ground!"

"Don't worry. We'll all have a great time!" he laughed as he started walking off towards the docks.

"Oh! And if you make it past this Atlas guy, go ahead and help Isaak and the others out! Better to have more people working on the clue than not enough!"

"Aye!" Seth answered before disappearing completely.

Things were quiet for a moment before Ace walked up to his sister again, "You do realize that you just teamed together three of the biggest flirts on this guild to figure out the clue, right?"

Cordelia froze for a moment before her jaw dropped and she let out cry of realization.

"And I'm the stupid one," Ace chuckled.

He was quickly met with a hand to the back of the head. Though, any arguments between the two were put to a quick stop when they felt the presence of a large ship coming up behind the guild. They both turned to see an overly large, white ship coming up on them, the symbol of the Naval Forces printed across the side of it.

"That's what I call bad timing," Ace said.

Cordelia smiled widely instead, "No," she said, watching as a large figure stood at the head of the ship with a black wrapped halberd resting on one shoulder, "That's what I call perfect timing."

**. : + : .**

"What do you mean you're not going first?" Gordon growled, glaring down at Kasra who had somehow managed to set up a stained wooden table with two matching chairs and a dark orange umbrella to keep him shaded. On the table was a chilled tea with three glasses along with a plate of cookies, "And just where the hell did all this shit come from?"

"How can one man be so angry when he looks so handsome?" Kasra asked with a smile, knowing it would easily deflect Gordon away from him. It did the trick, considering the large step he took away from Kasra, causing said man to chuckle in response, "Now then, I would like to see what this manly wrestler can do. Which means I need to sit and watch while you fight him. It is not all bad though. I do get to watch two men tangle with each other, and even better if they end up tangle together in the process, but either way it is entertaining for me."

A violent shiver ran up Gordon's spine before he started shouting and pointing over at Seth, "Then why can't he go first?!"

"But that would be too easy, you see," Kasra answered, wearing a rather pleased smile, "Dear Seth here is S-Class. The fight would end too quickly if he went first. Where is the fun in that? And besides," he said, stopping Gordon from retorting, "Wasn't it Miss Murdock that said it was because of you that we are currently in this predicament? It seems only fair that you go first in the ring."

"He has you there," Seth answered, wiping cookie crumbs from his face before taking a drink of tea, the tattooed mage having already taken the second seat at Kasra's table for himself, "Plus, you get to have all the fun by fighting him first. All his moves will be surprises!"

"See? I am giving you a gift. Go enjoy it," Kasra said.

"I don't know what kind, but you're definitely some kind of evil," Gordon said, "But fine. Whatever," he grunted turning towards the ring, "I'll go first."

"Evil I may be," Kasra said just before Gordon jumped into the ring, "But what lovely eye candy you are."

Another violent shiver ran up Gordon's spine while Seth choked on his tea. Seth hit his chest a couple times before he was finally able to let out a booming laugh in response to Kasra's comment. Gordon managed to pull himself together and jump up into the ring, pulling the bands around it apart for him to step through.

"All right!" the announcer from early started, "It looks like we have our first match up! Tell us your name so that all will know who-"

Gordon slammed a hand into the man's face as his eye twitched in annoyance, "I'd suggest you get the hell out of my face now before I make sure to fuck yours up, got it?" he said, feeling annoyed that he had to be in this ridiculous circus of a show. The man gulped and nodded, running out of the ring to join the other men. This left Gordon and Atlas standing in the ring alone, the metal mage cracking his knuckles as he stared down the large man, "I hope you know what you're asking for here."

"Men like you always start off the same," Atlas said, "But you will marvel at my strength by the end of this match!"

"Yeah, whatever," Gordon said with a roll of his eyes, "Can we just get this started already."

"Ah, but a great champion always starts with a heated stare down! It gets the crowd pumped up!"

"Well I don't care what your little lackeys want," Gordon said, donning his metal skin, "I want this shit to be over as fast as possible! So let's go!" he shouted, stepping up to the man to slam a fist into his face in hopes of making a knockout punch. Surprisingly though, Atlas caught Gordon by the neck and easily lifted him up into the air before slamming him down on his back. Gordon coughed from the force of the hit, not having expected the man to do that. It wasn't many people that could lift him up while he had his metal covering in place since it added weight to him. He stood up and shook his head to clear it before he charged the man again with a punch. Atlas easily ducked it and ran for the three bands that were around the ring. He spun so his back landed against them, using their stretching force to launch him forward back towards Gordon. He grabbed onto the back of Gordon's head and slammed the man down again, watching as Gordon's head ricocheted off the flooring of the ring, "What the fuck?" Gordon mumbled as he tried to get his head to stop spinning.

"Never underestimate an opponent!" Atlas shouted, "Not only do I have the most outstanding wrestling skills you will ever see in your lifetime! But I also have Strengthen Magic! This means I can channel my magic through my body to make me stronger and more durable than your seemingly useless steel body! Gaze upon the champion yet again and know failure, little steel man!"

"Like hell I will," Gordon grumbled as he crawled up to his knees.

Atlas jumped up onto the post closest to Gordon, "Let me show you how to shake the world! Earth Shattering Slam!" he shouted as jumped out towards Gordon to completely slam him back against the stage.

"Metal Make: Shield!" Gordon shouted, creating on overly large shield to cover himself. It appeared just in time for Atlas to slam against it and for Gordon to crawl out from under it, "Metal Make: Hammer!" he yelled, slamming a fist down to bring down a huge hammer onto the man. Atlas managed to roll off the shield just as the hammer came down to clang against the metal.

"It seems the steel man has some decent moves, but they are nothing compared to my strength and showmanship!" he shouted while striking a pose right in the middle of the ring.

"Go boss!"

"You're the best!"

"Kick that guy's ass!"

"What a showstopper!"

"Ah, the sound of fans is the best motivation in a battle!" Atlas said, smiling as he turned his attention back onto Gordon, "Let's go, little steel man! Show me what you've got in hand to hand combat!"

"This guy is seriously fucking crazy," Gordon said before taking up a fighting stance. The two stared each other down for a long moment, the cheers from the crowd around the ring growing, "Dammit! Now I'm getting caught up in his stupid stare down!"

"What a glorious thing a stare down is! Man against man! Fist against fist! It builds these things up and a champion cannot be a champion without them!"

"You're so damn annoying!" Gordon shouted as he charged the large man, entering into a heated battle of fists. Some punches made contact while they were able to dodge others. Gordon even started using the bands around the ring much like Atlas was doing. Their speed and strength started to pick up and they were running back and forth through the ring as the cheering began to rise from the crowd.

"The champion approves of your fighting, but it is time to make a finishing move!" Atlas shouted as the two separated to lean back against the bands to launch themselves at each other again. While Gordon simply charged at the man with a fist at the ready, Atlas prepared a slightly different attack. He twisted around Gordon and came back on him just as the metal mage turned to look at the man in surprise, "Lariat!" Atlas shouted as he slammed his forearm into Gordon's neck with a crushing force, the only thing keeping Gordon's neck from actually crushing like it should have was the metal that still coated him. His body was flung backwards as he chocked out a cough from the attack, skidding to a stop at the other end of the ring away from Atlas. The wrestler began walking up to Gordon, who was struggling to get back up. He easily picked the metal mage up, lifting him high above his head. He walked around the ring a few times to show off his strength against the mage before coming to a stop in the middle of the ring, "Back Breaker Surprise!" he shouted, falling to one knee while bringing Gordon down towards the other knee that was still up.

Gordon's eyes went wide, knowing from the title of the move alone that the ending result couldn't be good; so before the wrestler could actually slam his back against his knee, Gordon quickly created a new spell, "Metal Make: Anchor!" he shouted. A giant anchor appeared above the pair, quickly dropping down towards them, "You should never underestimate an opponent either," Gordon said, punching the man to let him go. Atlas lost his grip on him, Gordon managing to slip away just as the anchor fell onto Atlas.

"The champion is…stuck!" Atlas shouted from under the anchor.

"Good. Keep your ass there!" Gordon said as he moved towards the edge of the ring and slid out of it.

"That was great!" Seth said when Gordon had moved over to their table.

"Yes, quite the good show," Kasra smiled at him, earning an eye roll in return from Gordon.

"Well, now that my job is done, I'm going back to the guild," Gordon said.

"Ah, ah, ah," Seth said with a smile, grabbing onto the man's shoulder, "Cordelia asked that we go help out Isaak and the others after dealing with Atlas.

"What?! That's some bullshit!"

"Do not complain like that. It is not very becoming of such a handsome man," Kasra said, standing from his table and laughing at the irritated twitch Gordon's eye made, "Besides, it will be good to stretch our legs and to check out the town. You should learn to enjoy yourself more, so let us be on our way."

Gordon grumbled, but followed the two men further inland nonetheless.

"Boss! Boss! Are you all right?!" Atlas's men shouted as they ran into the ring and pushed the anchor off of him.

With being able to breathe again, Atlas started laughing loudly, "What a grand and spectacular fight! I must have more! And a champion cannot lose so easily! We must have a rematch, those mages and I! They must understand the true magnificence of the world champion, Atlas!"

His men cheered in response, happy to see that Atlas was ready for more fights. They quickly began to tear down the ring to take with them, knowing their boss loved to have the ring anywhere he went and it would only be right to finish his matches in the ring where they started.

Atlas looked back towards the guild and struck another dramatic pose, "Thank you for sending me such wonderful men to fight! I'll continue showing them how to make the world shake!" he shouted as more random fireworks exploded behind him.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Jimmy Ryans aka Atlas - reven228**

OMG! I laughed during this entire chapter! I was crying in laughter when Atlas finally made his appearance! He's just so great! And I had to dig deep, but I managed to break into all the wrestling I used to watch with a friend way back when, so I can only hope that Atlas lived up to that and what his creator imagined for him. And while picturing a number of wrestlers for him, I would also like to thank Russell Crowe in Gladiator for the whole 'Are you not entertained?!' bit since I drew inspiration from that as well. We'll definitely get to see more of both these forms of inspiration in the next couple of chapters with Atlas in them. So I truly hope you all enjoyed him because I just love him so much!

But anyways, inspiration hit me for this chapter and it just demanded to be written, but I'm sure that you all don't mind a surprise update like this, haha. I think you can thank reven228 for giving me Atlas and Origm2012 for his recent quick updates. They both got me pumped up to write this chapter!

I'm forgoing the Question Corner this time since this was a surprise update and I really just want to get this posted asap, but it will be included on the usual update on Sunday.

So thanks for all the reviews last chapter as well!

**Johua1277 - **Yep, Madmartigan pretty much broke Duke by taking Cheyenne from him. And Duke did finally manage to recover, but like you said, he won't ever be the same really. I like that Finn can still impress himself too, lol. And yeah, eating all that crab probably made them (at least Cordelia) sick in the end, haha! But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Benthino - **Always with the feels! It's just so easy to do! Duke lucked out with coming out of that depression thanks to little Cordelia. She's just so cute! And I hope you liked Atlas and the chapter as well!

**Momochan77 - **Little Cordelia is super cute! I just wanted to hug her! But I'm glad you liked that little flashback to wrap up things. And yes! I'm super excited for what I have planned for Mia, lol! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Finn really is a good dad and figure to gain knowledge and advice from. And I'm even happier that is coming out through the writing for him too. Haha, yep, gotta sneak a Natsu reference in there somehow! And Ingrid! LOL! She's just too much sometimes, but I love her so! And Atlas! OMG! I can't wait to see how you'll react to this chapter! I know you've been waiting a long time! Hell, I've been waiting a long time too! And I just loved all of it! So, so much! So I can only hope you loved it as much as I did, haha! So I hope you enjoyed the chapter as a whole!

**reven228 - **Yep, the Duke's flashback is all finished up! Glad you liked all of it! And that you're now that much more invested in the treasure at the end of this arc! And thank you once again for Atlas! He was so much fun and I've been waiting so long to bring him into the story! So I hope he lived up to your expectations! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**mrady - **Glad you're always looking forward to a new chapter! And don't worry! I have plans for John in the very near future! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Sakura-Fiction - **No worries on the reviewing! But I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter so much and that you could even picture it as its own anime! That really made my day! But all those feels though, haha! But I think this chapter let up on the feels, so hopefully your heart can make it to the next round of them whenever they come up again! But toying with emotions is just so easy to do! Haha! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **It seems that flashback killed a few of you readers again, but at least it was a bit sweeter this time around. But yep! Cordelia is back in the game! And I hope the new Black Skull member kept your interest! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the chapter! But yep! a two year old Cordelia is super cute and helpful for Duke. And Finn is a good dad, really he is, lol! And yeah, Atlas was definitely excited for his turn! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all on Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	35. A Spirit of Wishes

**A/N: **Here's the new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 35: A Spirit of Wishes**

**April 16, X792 - Morning**

Cordelia moved her way towards the back of the guild where the naval vessel had docked itself. She stood on the co-ed dorm ship, smiling widely up at the man that had been staring her down the entire time his ship had moved in on hers.

"I was beginning to wonder when you'd show up again!" Cordelia called up to him, a few of her mages standing behind her, "Did you come here looking for a fight already, Western Vice Admiral, Bern Eversaw?!"

"Well, you do have that bounty on your head now," he answered, chewing on a blue toothpick.

"I saw that. You sure do know a way to a woman's heart. I framed it and everything."

"I'm glad to hear you liked it so much. It's not often I give gifts out like that," he said, the corners of his lips twitching upwards ever so slightly, "Care to test if you're still worth that bounty?"

"I might just faint from all this attention you're giving me," she answered, "And on any other day, I would normally take you up on your offer, but I have some things I would like to discuss with you."

"You do realize that I have the right to fight you right here and now because of that bounty, right?"

"Come off it, Bern," she said, easily waving off his attempt at pulling her into a fight, "We both know that the only reason my mages and I have those bounties is because you wanted to have a fight with us in the future. Not because we actually did something wrong. I'm sure your boss wasn't too pleased with your decision on sending those out."

"I wouldn't know. I have yet to hear from the Admiral. I'm sure they have better things to do than look over every single bounty sheet that gets sent out."

"Then that wouldn't make them a very good Admiral, would it? They should know about the criminals they're searching for, regardless of how little the bounty is. Besides, you gave me a nice bounty, if I do say so, so I'm sure that had to catch their attention…or at least that fantastic picture of me would," she said, chuckling afterwards.

Bern contemplated her words for a moment before he answered her, "And just what do you want to talk about with me?"

"Well, you could either come aboard my guild and walk to my office with me," she said, glancing back at all her mages that were eyeing the man, "But I can't quite guarantee how my mages would greet you. You on the other hand," she said, looking back up at him, "Have quite the control over your men, I'm sure. And I wouldn't mind checking your own ship out. So long as I'm not arrested when I come on board."

"Cor! What do you think you're doing?!" Eli snapped, "That guy is fucking crazy! You do remember what happened the last time he made an appearance!

"I know what I'm doing," she said, "Besides, you'll be coming on board with me. Both you and Ace."

"Um…what?" Ace asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"Well, if you're all so worried about me," she started.

"I never said I was worried!" Ace snapped.

He was quickly silenced by a tight head lock from Cordelia, "Again, if you're all so worried about me, then you'll be coming onto the ship with me. Besides, I like the statement of three wanted mages walking onto that ship filled with naval officers and simply being able to walk off of it when we're finished with our business. It's rather exciting!"

"You need to find new hobbies," Eli and Ace mumbled at her.

"Well, it doesn't seem like you have a choice, do you?" she asked with a sweet smile.

The two men sighed at that look on her face, knowing that they really didn't have a choice of disagreeing with her.

"So!" Cordelia said after releasing her brother and turning back towards Bern, "What's your choice?"

Bern studied her with a straight face for a long moment as he decided on the best choice of action. He was interested in hearing on what she wanted to speak with him about and that curiosity gnawed at him until he finally gave into her request, "Fine. Come on board to my ship," he said as he kicked out a long, wooden board that slammed down onto the deck of the guild to create a path up onto the naval ship.

Cordelia smiled as she began walking up the board, glancing back to make sure Eli and Ace were following her. Once she was on the deck of Bern's ship, she looked up at the tall man, "The only thing I request is that you keep your Captains off of my guild, especially that Desmond guy," she said, narrowing her eyes for a moment to express her seriousness in her request, "If I come back out and see him on my guild, then I'll give you a reason to raise my bounty."

Bern simply nodded in response, his eyes moving over towards his Captains to make sure they understood the request as well. The two nodded at him, keeping their distance from the group walking up onto the ship, but staying close enough in case something went wrong. Bern then turned his attention back towards Cordelia and nodded at her again to follow him. The group began walking across the deck, Cordelia smiling widely at all the officers that watched her walk across the ship freely. Eli and Ace followed her closely, still disliking the fact that they had somehow been dragged along, so they chose to completely ignore all the other men and women around them as the group made their way down into Bern's office.

As the group disappeared below deck, Desmond turned his attention onto the guild they were docked next to. While he had silently promised Bern that he would stay off of the guild, and with how Cordelia had reacted to him the last time he was on the guild still fresh in his mind, something still managed to grab his attention. He saw a flash of red hair first before a familiar face turned slightly to smile at blue haired woman. His eyes widened as they stayed frozen on her, wondering why he hadn't seen her the first time he had been on the guild. Though, he easily chalked that up to being busy fighting Cordelia and her mages. Still, he couldn't believe he had found her on the sailing guild of all places.

A hand landed on his shoulder before he could run down onto the guild, "Whatever you're thinking, don't do it."

Desmond looked back to see Kira standing behind him and gripping his shoulder, "But you do not understand," he said, pushing her hand off of his shoulder, "There is something I must attend to on the guild."

"You're only gonna piss off Bern…and even worse, Cordelia. I don't want to have to clean up your mess again."

"No one asked you to, so just stay up here while I conduct my business," he said, walking down the board that led onto guild while receiving an eye roll from Kira. A few mages eyed him carefully as he boarded the guild, but he paid them no mind as he walked up to the redhead he had spotted earlier. The blue haired woman noticed him first, the small smile dropping from her face as she stared him down. The redhead woman cocked her head to the side when she noticed her friend's sudden silence. She then turned around to see what the woman was staring at, her eyes going wide upon seeing the Captain standing before her, "It has been quite a long time, Zipporah Fieri."

**. : + : .**

Isaak, Jean and Rin walked into town, doing their best to ignore the thunder rolling across the sky. Isaak had looked over the clue countless times before they finally came across a decent sized town on the island. Once they had come across civilization, he had rolled the map back up and looked around for someone to speak to about possibly finding a spirit of wishes. His eyes lit up when he saw a group of young women talking and giggling together outside of a clothing store. A smile appeared on his face and just as he was about to make his way towards the group of girls, he was quickly pulled backwards.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jean asked him.

"Well, we don't know where a spirit of wishes is in the slightest, so I was going to ask if anyone has heard of one on this island."

"Yes, but why are you the one going up to talk to the ladies?"

Isaak quirked an eyebrow at the blonde man before a smile reappeared, "If you would like to be the one to speak with them, please be my guest," he said, motioning towards the women. He stepped back to relax against a building to watch the scene, knowing already that it would end horribly.

Jean huffed in response before making his way over towards the group of girls with Rin close on his heels. The girls continued talking for a moment longer before they became quiet once they noticed Jean walking up towards them. He came to stand in front of the brunette of the group, closing his eyes as he held her hands. He took a moment before opening his eyes, causing them to sparkle in the morning light as he gazed upon her.

"Excuse me, but do you happen to be a magician? Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears," he said in as elegant of a voice as he could muster.

The entire group of girls blanched at his pick-up line, silence passing through the group for a long moment. Isaak smacked a palm to his head while Rin was holding in his laughter, though he was miserably failing at it. Soon enough, Rin was doubling over in laughter while pointing at Jean.

"What was that?! That was horrible!"

Jean felt his eye twitch in annoyance before he turned around to snap at Rin, "Shut up! Why must you always be behind me like this?! No one asked you to tag along!"

"Cordelia did," Rin smirked, "Now move aside so I can show you how it's really done," he said, pushing Jean aside. He fixed his top hat and bowtie before setting his sights on the women. The girls looked worried for a moment as he stepped up to the blonde of the group, grabbing hold of one of her hands while he bent on one knee. A small moment of silence passed through the group before Rin began speaking, "I may not be a photographer, but I can picture me and you together."

The women quickly fell back into the blanched looks they had been wearing previously as Jean started to shout again.

"Just what the hell was that?! That was no different than what I did!"

"But I bent down to one knee!" Rin retorted, "That is much better than the sparkling eye bit!"

"Well obviously not!"

"Good god," Isaak mumbled, "We'll be here all day if this keeps up," he said, pushing himself off of the building and began making his way over towards the women, passing the still arguing Jean and Rin. He came to stand in front of the girls, all of them looking even more worried about a third bad attempt at flirting. He let an easy, playful smile appear on his lips, the smile instantly seeming to relax the women, "I would like to apologize on behalf of these two men here. They obviously don't know how to entertain such beautiful ladies."

The women all seemed to blush at once before one of them began giggling in embarrassment.

"Now, if you don't mind, I would like to ask you lovely ladies a question if you don't mind. If not, then please at least allow me to take you all out for a drink to make up for the previous two men's behavior. It would be a shame if I let you all walk away with such a terrible start to your morning," he said, watching as all their blushes grew and smiles began to appear on their faces. The woman that had been giggling only continued to laugh, prompting Isaak to step up to her. He slid a hand under her chin to tip it up gently so she would be looking up at him, "You have such a sweet laugh, so I hope you will be the one to answer my question in order to grace me with the sound of your voice."

The woman let out a happy, nervous laugh before she finally answered him, "I'll do my best to answer your question."

"Ah, your voice is even sweeter than your laugh," he smiled at her, causing her to almost lose feeling in her legs, "Now then, I am in search of something that I believe is on this island. Have you heard of a spirit of wishes by chance?"

"Oh, that's an easy one," the girl answered, "On the next street over is an antique shop. That's where you can find the spirit."

"That was rather easy," Isaak said.

"Yes, the spirit has been on our island for quite some time. No one wants to buy his lamp, so he's been stuck here for a long while."

"May I ask why no one would want a spirit that can grant their wishes?"

"You'll have to go see for yourself," she said, nervously glancing down the street, "But, uh, my boyfriend is coming so you should probably get going."

Isaak glanced up to see a couple of men walking down the street towards them, eyeing Isaak with a glare, "Oh my! It does seem like it's time to go!" he said, but looked back towards the woman in front of him one last time, "But if you ever get tired of that boyfriend of yours, come look me up. I'd be more than happy to hear that sweet laugh of yours again."

The woman answered him with another giggle before he ran off with Jean and Rin closely following him.

"Just what was that?!" Jean huffed, "You completely took over."

"That is called successful flirting, but I suppose you wouldn't know what it looks like," Isaak smirked back at the two men, "Honestly, a twelve year old could do a better job than the both of you."

Before the two could say anything in their defense, the group rounded the corner to turn down the next street and suddenly slammed into another group that had been coming around opposite side. The two groups huffed as they were knocked backwards, looking up when they slid to a stop.

"Hey! We found Isaak's group!" Seth said, smiling as he stood back up.

"You were looking for us?" Isaak asked, standing back up himself and dusting himself off.

"Yes," Kasra answered, making sure his turban was on straight, "Miss Murdock asked that we come help you when we were finished with Atlas."

"So you took him out already?" Rin asked.

"Of course we did," Gordon grunted, "No thanks to these two," he said, pointing at Seth and Kasra, "They sat around eating some damn cookies while I did all the hard work!"

"We have already had the discussion as to why that was," Kasra said, "No need to go back and revisit the past."

Gordon glared over at Kasra, but before he could say anything else, Isaak intervened.

"Well then, you can help us with the spirit of wishes. We actually just found out where it was, so let's get moving."

The now six men moved down the street Isaak's group had been running towards, all of them looking for the antique store that the woman had talked about. It was Jean that called out to them about halfway down the street, the group gathering around a shop that was indeed a large antique store. They quickly entered the shop, Isaak taking the lead when the store owner looked over at the group of men curiously.

"May I ask about a spirit of wishes?" Isaak began, "We were told we can find one here."

The store owner began laughing before he answered him, "You're more than welcome to try your hands at getting him to listen to you," he said, turning around to rummage through a few things behind the front counter. He eventually pulled out an object and set it in front of the men, being a rather delicate looking, gold genie lamp, "And if you're able to summon the spirit out of that lamp, I'll let you take it for free. He's been here for about twenty years now and he can get rather annoying."

The group of mages stared between the lamp and the store owner curiously before the owner walked off to help another customer, wishing the group good luck before he did so. The six men gathered around the lamp, all of them looking down at it with quirked eyebrows or their heads cocked to the side.

"So what do we do now?" Seth asked.

"Summon the thing of course!" Jean said, moving forward to grab the lamp and rub the side of it.

"Don't you dare touch the lamp!"

The six men looked around upon hearing a high pitched voice, but not seeing an owner to it. The only other people that were in the store was the owner and the customer he was helping and they had gone off towards the other end of the store.

"Why are men always so stupid?" the high pitched voice continued, "Down here you idiots!"

The group looked down to see the lamp moving every time the voice spoke up.

"Is it possessed?" Gordon asked.

"You really are an idiot!" the voice in the lamp snapped, "I'm not some pathetic ghost! I'm a highly intelligent being filled with great cosmic power!"

"You don't really sound like you have that kind of power," Rin said.

"What do you think happens to a person when they get shrunk down into the size of a shrimp?!"

"Haha, this thing is great!" Seth said, "Can we take it back to the guild to show everyone?"

"Stupid! We have a mission to complete," Gordon growled before he swiped the lamp off the counter, "Now get out of that lamp! We have shit to do!"

"GAH! Get your ugly man hands off of my lamp!" the voice shouted, being able to move the lamp on its own and smack Gordon on the head with it before moving to set back down on the counter, "How dare you! No man is allowed to touch my lamp!"

"Then how are we supposed to summon you?" Isaak asked.

"I refuse to be summoned by anything but the most beautiful women in the world!" the voice announced as stars and flowers began to hang around the lamp, "Girls, women, lovely ladies! Pretty, beautiful, exotic women! I can see them all right now! Those lovely, round backsides! And bosoms ample enough to fit in the palm of your hands! Ahahahaha!" the voice laughed, a thin line of blood beginning to spill out from the spout of the lamp.

The six men stood in a long silence before it was Jean that broke it.

"A pervert genie…" he said lowly before he began shouting, "It's a pervert genie! Of all the spirits we had to find, we had to get the perverted genie!"

"So!" the spirit interrupted them, "If you do not have a lovely lady with you, then I will not be coming out to help you with anything!"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" Gordon snapped, "We can't get anything done if it doesn't come out of there!"

"Maybe he's still stuck here because none of the women wanted his wishes after they summoned him," Rin mentioned, causing the voice in the lamp to go quiet.

Isaak's eyes lit up in realization, "That's it, isn't it?" he said, "You scared off any woman who actually wanted to summon you and now you're stuck here until some unfortunate traveling woman happens to come across you."

"It's none of your business!" the spirit answered, "And besides, that stupid shop owner keeps scaring off any new women before they can touch me! What a horrible life to not even be able to feel the smooth and delicate skin of a woman caress my lamp!" he shouted, another line of blood beginning to drip out of the lamp.

"Stop bleeding!" Jean snapped, bonking the top of the lamp.

"But it no longer matters when that shop owner keeps me hidden away now!"

"It seems like that's your own fault," Isaak smirked, "But you know, there's a possibility that if you help us out with what we need, then you could be freed from the lamp and you could go enjoy all the beautiful women you want, when you want."

"The only way I'm being freed from this lamp is if William Blackstroker does it himself or if someone is hunting his treasure," the spirit said, "That damned pirate placed a spell on me until that obligation is fulfilled! And he even put his nasty man hands all over my lamp when he did it!"

"Well then, you seem to be in luck today," Isaak said, pulling out the map and showing it to the lamp, "We happen to be in search of that treasure."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?!" the spirit said, earning flat stares from the group, "Now! Someone summon me and I will help you!"

The group of men all looked at each other, waiting to see who would do the summoning.

"Well I refuse to touch the pervert genie's lamp!" Jean said, placing a finger to his nose. Isaak and Rin quickly picked up on what he was doing and placed their own fingers on their noses. Kasra smirked once he saw what was happening, touching his own nose as he elbowed Seth in the side. Seth looked around for a moment before he realized what was happening, touching his nose with a smile, "It appears that the nose goes!" Jean said, the group looking over at Gordon.

"What?" the metal mage replied, not fully understanding what was going on for a moment. Though, it soon dawned on him at what had just happened, "What the hell?!" he shouted, "This is some bullshit!"

"Rules are rules, Gordon," Isaak laughed.

"Goddammit," he grumbled as he swiped the lamp off the counter again.

"You picked the worst one!" the spirit shouted.

"Shut up! It's not like I'm enjoying this either!" Gordon snapped as he rubbed the lamp.

"Gross man hands!" the spirit cried before a cloud of red smoke began to fill the area. Once the smoke had cleared, a rather tall figure stood before them. The spirit's skin was bright red while his black hair was styled up into a high ponytail. His gold eyes stared out at the six men and his body was nicely toned. On his wrists were thick, gold bands with runes inscribed into them and he wore baggy, black pants along with simple black sandals. He stretched out his body from being cooped up for so long and cracked his neck as he moved it back and forth a few times, "That's much better," he said, his voice being much lower now, "Bahir, a spirit of wishes at your service," he said, bowing to the men slightly.

"Oh, so you finally managed to get him out of that lamp?" the store owner asked with a smile, "Good, now you can take him out of my shop."

"You're the one that hid me away for years! I could have been long gone before now!"

"I highly doubt that," the shop owner answered, still smiling, "Now please, take him out of here," he said, looking over at Isaak.

Isaak ushered everyone outside before Bahir could start another argument. Once outside of the antique store, Isaak looked over at the spirit, "So the clue mentioned playing your game. Is there something we need to do for you?"

"Something like that," Bahir answered, "Before Blackstroker ever so gently put me in that lamp, he had me place nine puzzle pieces around this island. You will need to find all the pieces and put them together and then I will give you the next clue to the map. And I will give you a hint to the first piece and with every piece you find after that, it will have a clue attached to it for the next one. I will wait here while you complete the puzzle," he explained, "So for the first one, you can find it somewhere filled with lace and frills, but be warned, the woman in charge is quite the pistol."

"What kind of stupid clue is that?!" Gordon shouted.

"Lace and frills…lace and frills," Isaak thought aloud before it hit him, "That clothing store those women were standing outside of earlier! That's the best place to start!"

"Then let's get moving," Jean said, the group turning to run back down the street.

Though, as soon as they started moving, loud and heavy rock music stopped them.

"Not again!" Gordon shouted, "How the hell did he get free from my anchor?!"

At the end of the street, the ring from earlier had reappeared fully built while Atlas was once again making another grand entrance.

"It is time for round two!" Atlas began once he was standing in the middle of the ring, "Who will be man enough to step up to the champion this time?! I will yet again have you marveling over my strength and you will fail right here in this ring! But you should feel honored to lose at the hands of the world champion, Atlas!"

"What the hell is that?" Bahir asked.

"That would be the man trying to take our map," Isaak sighed.

"Haha! This is such a great day!" Seth said before laughing loudly, "I will take this round! You two go help Isaak out and then I'll catch up once I'm finished," he said, looking back at Gordon and Kasra. The group nodded at him before running off down the street and past the large ring. Seth then began walking towards the ring, slowly building up into a run until he came close enough to the ring to jump up towards it and slide under the bottom band around it. He let himself continue sliding, waiting until the last minute to pop back up and stand right in front of Atlas with a wide smile, "I'll be your opponent this time!"

Atlas returned the excited smile, "I feel like this will be a wonderful, glorious battle!" he said as both men began to stare each other down, "And you even have the stare of a champion packed down! The world champion is excited for this fight!"

"Then let's get started!" Seth said.

The two took fighting stances as they waited for the ding of the battle to start. Once one of the many men around the ring hit the bell, the two men took off towards each other.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Haha! And yes, I just left it off right there! We haven't had a good cliff hanger for a while, so I figured, well why the hell not? But I really had fun with this chapter and Bahir turned out much better than I thought he would, lol.

And sorry for the slight delay in the update. I got a bit distracted last night with some things, so I wasn't able to get it finished. But I had the day off today, so plenty of time to get it all written up. And just a quick note this time around since I have more distractions to return to here soon *coughVideogamescough* so this will be a quick author's note this time around.

But I was really happy to see how many of you really enjoyed Atlas's character last chapter! He is really just so much fun to write, so it's good he turned out as well as I hoped. But all your reviews were just simply amazing! Seriously, I smiled through every single one of them! You all are just so awesome! And we've even hit 500 reviews! GAH! I just don't know how to thank you all and I know you keep hearing this over and over, but honestly you all are just the best! So I hope you all continue to enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	36. Ravager

**A/N: **Uhh…better late than never, right? Haha!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 36: Ravager**

**April 16, X792 - Mid-Morning**

Both Seth and Atlas had attempted to slam a fist at the other, but they each easily caught the fists that had been thrown at them. They struggled back and forth for a moment, both of them still smiling over the start of the fight.

"It seems you have some decent power in you," Atlas said.

"And just think!" Seth said, "I haven't even used my magic yet!"

"I can tell you're going to be a much more enjoyable opponent. It almost makes the champion feel sad for the loss you will be experiencing today!"

"But didn't Gordon beat you?" Seth asked, laughing when he saw Atlas's face fall, "That wouldn't make you the champion anymore, right?"

"Of course I'm the champion!" Atlas shouted, letting up from the struggle to strike a pose, "I'm still here challenging your guild again, aren't I?! We're just getting started!"

While Atlas rambled on, Seth took this to his advantage to run back into the bands around the ring in order to launch himself at the wrestler. His eyes grew in child-like excitement when he felt the rush of being thrown forward, almost making him forget it was an actual fight he was currently part of.

Atlas was still going on about being the champion until one of his men shouted at him. He turned to see Seth coming right at him, giving him just enough time to jump out of the way. Seth continued forward, almost falling out of the ring. Though, he grabbed onto the bands and twisted himself up and over them in order to fall back into the ring. Instead of letting him land solidly into the ring, Atlas moved right under him and caught him around his waist tightly.

"Reverse Slam!" Atlas shouted as he sent Seth down into a suplex behind him. Atlas released him and Seth laid on the ground for a moment in order to regain his composure. The wrestler came to stand over him, "Is that all you have?! Then that little steel man was actually the better opponent!"

"Like you said, we're just getting started," Seth answered, his usual smile reappearing on his face as a tattoo of a wolf's nose on his left thigh began to glow, "Chimera Shift: Wolf!" he shouted, covering his body in shaggy, gray fur. Atlas jumped back in surprise, allowing Seth the room he needed to get back up to his feet, "It looks like some increased speed would work well against you," he said before running straight for the wrestler.

A gray flash was all that Atlas saw at first, missing the fact that it had come up right behind him. Seth had threaded his fingers together to slam both fists right into Atlas's back. Atlas coughed out more in surprise than anything and his body was flung forward, skidding to a stop on the other end of the ring with his face smashed up against the flooring.

"Boss! Look out!"

Atlas was once again saved by his men as he turned over to watch Seth's fist whoosh right passed his face and through the flooring of the ring. Atlas wasted no time in sending back a punch at the man above him, forcing Seth to move off away from him long enough for Atlas to slide away from him and stand up. Atlas then turned to land a roundhouse kick on Seth since his hand was still stuck through the flooring, but Seth ducked low enough for it to swing directly over his head. Though, he didn't expect the wrestler to be so quick with his next attack. As soon as his foot landed on the ground from his first kicking attempt, Atlas twisted around on that leg to swing his other leg into Seth. The mage was fairly certain it felt like steel being slammed into his chest, the force hard enough to pop his hand out from the flooring and sending him barreling into the bands on the other side of the ring. He quickly bounced off of them and down onto the ring, landing hard on his knees and elbows. He gave himself a moment to shake off the hit before he pushed himself back on his feet, letting his joints pop as he stretched out before he jumped back into the fight. During this, he had his back turned towards Atlas, which the wrestler took advantage of as he moved up on him to take him down with a surprise attack. Though, Seth's body went stiff before turning and close lining Atlas before he fully came up on him.

Atlas coughed for a moment from his position on the ground, looking up at Seth in surprise when the attack had started to fade off, "How did you know I was coming at you?"

"Well aside from being able to hear you, I could smell you too," Seth answered, his usual smile still in tact, "You didn't think this form only increased my speed did you? It amplifies the senses too."

"Your…your…your guild master sent out such wonderful opponents!" Atlas announced loudly.

"I'm sure she'd like to hear that," Seth grinned, "But we have a fight to finish here."

"Right, right! The champion isn't finished yet! I have strength for you to marvel at and failure for you to meet!"

Atlas popped up from the floor, facing off with Seth as the two men conducted another intense stare down. Atlas boosted his power up through his body and Seth felt his muscles prepare themselves for the next part of the battle that was about to begin. As soon as they both blinked, cutting off their stare down, they both took off once again, the floor of the ring creaking when they launched themselves forward. Hit after hit began to ensue then, the two using any part of their body to land those hits. When a fist would meet a chest, it would quickly be paired off with a kick meeting the side of a body or a palm meeting a jaw. Muscles tightened and released pure strength behind them with every hit made and more holes were slowly being made through the flooring with every hit narrowly dodged. Teeth could be heard clacking together with every hit made to the face and heavy grunts were let out with every hit made to the body, but both men continued forward with the fight despite drops of blood beginning to show up across the white flooring of the ring. It was when the two men ran at each other and managed to slam a fist into the other's face at the same time did they get a moment to breathe since they had both been forced away from each other. Atlas ran a hand across his top lip to help clear away some of the blood running out of his nose while Seth took a moment to gather the blood in his mouth before spitting it all out outside of the ring.

"It seems we are currently evenly matched!" Atlas announced, "It looks like I'll have to up this a notch then!" he said before Seth could suddenly feel magic rising in the area. He stared over at Atlas curiously to see his muscles beginning to ripple due to the amount of magic that was being channeled through his body. Seth was pretty sure that if his hits had already felt like steel, that his next round of attacks would definitely leave him as a bloody pulp, "The champion shows his true strength!" Atlas shouted, striking another pose with his newly gained strength in place, "Feel honored that you have forced me into this position!"

"Things just keep getting more interesting," Seth said with a laugh, not seeming to fear the new level of strength his opponent carried.

"You should be more fearful and cautious! You are about to see what true failure really is!"

"But where's the fun in being scared all the time?" Seth asked as he took a moment to relax his body, "Besides, you think you're the only one that can power up like that? There's a reason I'm known at the Colossal Lycian," he said, sending a smirk towards Atlas when he saw recognition pass across his face, "It seems that even if my face isn't known, my title is!" he continued with a laugh, "So let's see how well you do against this. Chimera Shift: Ravager!" he shouted, the tattoo of the tiger claw beginning to glow along with the wolf tattoo. The shaggy, gray fur stayed in place, but now along his arms and legs were orange stripes. It was easy for Atlas to feel Seth's own magic power rise in this form, the wrestler certain that he now had a strength bonus along with the high speed he previously had in the wolf form, "So are you ready to show me true failure then?"

Atlas steeled himself once again for the next part of the battle that was about to begin. It wouldn't do for him to be shocked over who he was fighting now that he actually knew who it was. He still planned on winning the match no matter who it was against, "Yes! Let us see who is the true champion!"

The two men smiled before taking off at each other once again, both letting out a shout as they made their attacks.

"Super Kick!" Atlas shouted as he moved to land a powerful roundhouse kick on Seth, one that was usually strong enough to shatter bones. Seth didn't move to block or dodge it this time, feeling the kick hit him hard in the side. He was certain that a large bruise would appear in that spot and even more certain that a couple of ribs had cracked, but he ignored that pain as he moved forward to land his own hit on the wrestler. Atlas was surprised to see Seth still moving with ease, allowing the mage to slam a fist right across his face, his teeth clacking hard enough to chip a tooth and to have blood spraying out from his mouth as well as returning the nosebleed from earlier tenfold. Atlas's body flew back and slammed down on the floor with that single punch. His body bounced against the floor while Seth shook his hand from the hit, as it did indeed feel like he had just punched a steel beam. He looked down at his fist to see it already swelling, but he had to ignore that feeling of pain as well when he saw Atlas begin to move and stand back up, forcing Seth into a fighting stance, "The champion is truly impressed," Atlas mumbled out, spitting out the broken part of his tooth along with some blood, "It's not everyday that someone chips a tooth of mine. You should feel proud!"

"I suppose I do a little," Seth smiled, "So does that mean you're finished?"

"Never! You will feel overcome by my glorious victory that is to come!"

"Well then, show me!"

The two men were instantly in another punching and kicking match, one of those rare no hold brawls that both men got to have. It wasn't everyday that they got to unleash their full power on someone as most people would have given in or have been knocked out before they could shift into their final forms of power. And the cheers all around the ring only spurred on the two men to continue their battle, putting everything they had into every hit. Explosion after explosion of power reverberated through the ring and out into the town, causing the excited cheering to skyrocket from the intense battle that was growing.

Though, once Seth saw an opportunity for a finishing combo move on the wrestler, he took it. Atlas made the mistake of taking a step back from Seth, allowing him the moment he needed to run backwards into the bands around the ring again. He launched himself at Atlas, even more speed behind his attack in his Ravager form. He landed a punch on the wrestler that had him stumbling backwards as Seth flew passed him after the hit landed. He fell into the bands again and threw himself back at the wrestler feet first, the attack landing directly on his back and forcing him down onto the floor. Seth then moved off of him and ran towards one of he corners, jumping up onto the post that was stationed there. He used the post to launch himself up into the air high above Atlas. The wrestler had enough time to roll over and see Seth coming down towards him. Atlas let a surge of magic shoot through his body, strengthening it again right before Seth spun once in the air to add momentum and force behind the kick he was bringing down on Atlas. As soon as his foot made contact with the man's gut, the flooring cracked and broke under the sheer force of the hit. It caused a huge whoosh of air out of Atlas's body, the wrestler feeling certain that all the air had been knocked out of his lungs. Halfway through the attack, his eyes went completely white, indicating it had been a knock out hit, the man laying in the broken flooring unmoving and his mouth agape.

Seth stood over the man a moment longer with his foot still pushed into his stomach. Once it was apparent that Atlas wasn't getting back up, Seth took in a deep breath as he dropped his Ravager form, his tattoos no longer glowing. He picked his foot up off of Atlas and attempted to stretch out his body, though the damage from the kick to his side from earlier decided to rear its ugly head and had a bolt of pain shoot through his body.

"Mmm, seems like I'll have to be careful about that spot for the time being," he said, looking back towards the wrestler, "But it was a great fight! Thanks for giving it your all!" he said before moving out of the ring and running off in the direction that the rest of his team had disappeared into.

Just as Seth was turning the corner, movement from Atlas could be seen from the men still surrounding the ring. His eyes came back into focus and he rose up from his spot in the ring with a loud shout, "The Legend Reborn!" he said, the surge of magic from earlier that he had used igniting power and energy through his body once again. It had meant to be a fake out move in order to attack Seth when he was least suspecting it, but it had seemed that Seth's hit had been much harder than he had anticipated. Though, he still rose ready to fight, looking around for the man that had just been in the ring with him.

"Boss!" his men started, "He's already gone! You were down longer than usual!"

Atlas let out a huff of disappointment as he moved his shoulders around to loosen them up, "It seems the champion is having more trouble than he thought he would."

"You're not giving up, are you, boss?!"

Atlas looked down at his men for a moment with a straight face before a victorious smile spread across his face and he began laughing loudly, "Of course not! The champion never gives up! That is why I am the champion to begin with! Let us continue forward in our endeavors!"

The men cheered with him for a moment before they looked at the destroyed ring, "Um boss…the ring is broken."

"Hmm?" Atlas hummed as he looked at the wrecked ring, "I see. Well then it's simple really," he said, the men thinking that they'd get to leave the ring behind, "You all will just have to fix it!" he announced, causing the men to drop their heads in defeat.

**. : + : .**

"So what is it that you would like to discuss with me?" Bern asked, staring down the guild master in front of him.

Bern sat behind his large desk while Cordelia was lounging in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Eli and Ace stood behind her, feeling much more cautious about the situation than Cordelia was.

"You're all so serious," she said, smacking a hand back into Eli's stomach, "Lighten up. That includes you too, Bern."

"And you should be more serious in this situation!" Eli snapped.

"His is right," Bern added, "You're stuck in my office on my ship. What were to happen if I turned on you right now? I would still be in my rights with those bounties in place."

"If that were to happen, I would enjoy seeing you explain to the Admiral how you were able to apprehend us in the first place," she answered, seeing him bite down on his toothpick a little harder, "But I also get the feeling you're a man of your word, so I'm choosing to trust you for now. I do run a legal guild, so I feel as if we should have some trust between each other, yeah? We're both the good guys, we just happen to run things a little differently."

Bern watched her for a moment before finally leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on his desk, "All right, you make a good point."

"Glad you see it my way," she said, smirking when she saw Ace take a seat next to her. Though, Eli continued to stand behind her, choosing to keep his guard up for the time being, "Now then, what I would like to discuss with you has to do with our current enemy that was the entire cause of how we actually got bounties put on our heads to begin with."

"The Black Skulls," Bern stated.

"Exactly. I'm sure they're in your list of groups to catch, what with their reputation and all. Especially their captain, Madmartigan," she said, Bern picking up on the slight narrowing of her eyes when she said the man's name.

"Yeah, they've been wanted for a long time, and especially that captain, like you said," Bern answered, "So what about them then?"

"I want you to help me take them out."

"What?" both Ace and Eli said, looking at Cordelia with quirked eyebrows.

"Cordi," Ace continued, "You do realize this guy tried to take us out. He almost took out the entire guild! And you want him to help us?!"

"He was just having a little fun with that battle. Weren't you, Bern?" she asked, smiling over at the Vice Admiral.

"A little fun?! This dude took your Tsar Cannon head on!" Eli said, "And might I remind you that Vi is still working on it to get it fixed!"

"But our guild is still standing, right?" Cordelia asked, "But I wondered if he had so much fun fighting us, what would he do against a person that was truly wanted and he could go all out on them? I think that's a force that I'd rather have on my side than against me when the final fight happens."

"So you'll let me fight Madmartigan then?" Bern asked, his interest piqued now.

"Yes. I found out that the type of magic he uses hardens his skin beyond extreme measures. My regular bullets would most likely just bounce off of him, so having someone with strength like yours would be helpful."

"And you don't trust anyone on your guild to help you fight him?"

"It's not that I don't trust them. Because I do, much more than you if I'm being honest," she explained, "But the Black Skulls are your problem too. I shouldn't have to be cleaning up your own mess for you. I mean, how long have these guys been able to move around freely? Twenty-five years I believe. And no one from the Navy has managed to catch them? That's a bit of a poor show. It would be even poorer if my men and I took them out and handed them over to you without the Navy so much as lifting a finger to help. What would that show to the world then? That you can't even protect them from one small group of pirates? Good luck having anyone respect you then."

Bern felt his body go rigid at the quips she was making towards him. While he knew that she was right about the things she was saying, it didn't make it any easier for him to listen to her bash him so blatantly. Still, he sat in silence as he contemplated over her words, being a bit too prideful for his own good to outwardly agree with her.

Cordelia smirked as she stood up from her chair, knowing she had him right where she wanted him, "I shouldn't have to convince you to do this as it is your job to take out people like Madmartigan and his crew. I'm sure your Admiral would agree with me. But if it helps you see the light, I'll make a deal with you. You may keep the bounties on our heads since that's how you justify fighting me and I will fight you any time you make an appearance before my guild whenever you get the urge for a decent fight that you so clearly can't get from your own men."

Bern felt his skin and hair bristle with excitement over her offer, knowing he would never get another one like it. He moved his feet off of the desk and stood to walk over towards Cordelia, coming to stop directly in front of her, "You promise? Any time I want?"

"That's right."

Bern then stuck his hand out towards her, "Then you have yourself a deal."

"Great!" Cordelia grinned, shaking his hand in agreement, "But I get the final blow on Madmartigan."

"How do you plan on doing that if your bullets can't pierce his skin?"

She smirked up at the man, clearly knowing something he didn't, "Oh, I have tricks up my sleeves, just as you do with that halberd of yours. I'll be able to make that final blow. I promise," she said, her face taking on that slight serious look again before the smile took back over, "So I appreciate your help in all of this and we'll be in contact with you to make sure plans are set in place for when everything goes down."

"And how will you contact me?"

"That's another trick!" she said with a laugh before exciting his office with Eli and Ace in tow.

**. : + : .**

"Des…Desmond?" Zipporah stuttered, not believing that she was looking at the man before her.

"It is good to see you too, Zipporah," he said, bowing towards her slightly and picking up her hand in his own. He attempted to plant a kiss on her hand, but she yanked it away before he could. He looked over at her in disappointment, but backed off nonetheless, "So you left home for a place like this? Your parents would be ashamed."

"So that's your greeting towards me? Insulting my guild like that?" she asked, gnashing her teeth together in irritation.

"And yet you insult your family name by wearing a guild mark. You were meant to be something so much more."

"My family insulted me by making choices for me. They didn't even ask what I wanted. You didn't ask what I wanted!"

"But you come from a noble family, Zipporah. Everything you wanted could have been yours. I have been searching for you since the engagement was cancelled. It will be good to finally report back to your father that I have found you and I can take you back home now."

"You won't be taking me anywhere! I never asked to be married off! It was only for my family's benefit!"

"But I truly do want you as my wife. That is why I came to take you back home."

"Even now you're not listening to me! You're so arrogant, Desmond! I don't want to be married to someone like you!"

Silence filled the guild at her declaration, Desmond feeling embarrassment and anger wash over him because of it. A scowl had replaced the calm face he had previously been wearing as he reached out for her.

"You will be coming home with me. Your father entrusted me with that mission, so whether you like it or not, you will be leaving this guild. You have no place here."

His hand continued moving towards her to grab her arm, but it was quickly knocked out of the way by a lead pipe. He glared over at the blue haired woman who Zipporah had been talking with before he came aboard the guild.

"I do not think that is happening," Alisa said, her own glare fixed on the man, "You are quite rude. Worse than even the pirates that we have been dealing with. At least they have the excuse of being pirates. What is your excuse?"

"Do not get in my way. This matter has nothing to do with you."

"I can say that your speech is quite good," Alisa said as she ignited her pipe with electricity, "But it sounds rather disgusting coming out of your mouth."

"Oh wow! You really managed to piss her off," Aria said, chuckling as she showed up behind the Captain, Hiryu at the ready, "Even with good speech, she's looking down on ya! That's pretty impressive!"

Desmond looked between the two women who seemed more than ready to fight him, frowning at both of them, "So you are willing to take on a Captain of the Naval Forces and risk being arrested?"

"I do believe you were given orders to stay off of our guild," Alisa said.

"Yeah, so we're only defending ourselves against a giant idiot like you!" Aria finished.

Desmond felt his eye twitch at their words, "I do not have time for this. Zipporah, you are coming with me and I will take you home. That is how it is. As I said, you do not belong here!"

He made another move for Zipporah, causing the redhead to grab onto one of her swords while Alisa and Aria prepared to move in on him. Though, before anything could be done from either party, Desmond was knocked backwards, a foot slamming him down onto the deck. When he looked back up to see who had hit him, he came face to face with a barrel of a large, silver revolver. He moved his eyes up to meet furious blue ones.

"Shit," he cursed.

"I told you to stay off of my guild!" Cordelia shouted, "And here I find you harassing my mages and starting fights!"

"They were the ones that-"

"You were the one that came onto my guild! You started this fight the moment you stepped onto Storm's Helm!"

"Well, these matters do not concern you," he said, doing his best to send a glare up at her.

"They concern me when you're telling one of my mages that they don't belong here! You're the one that doesn't belong here! Zipporah is a mage of Storm's Helm! And as such, I will make sure to protect her from little pricks like you!"

Desmond felt his glare harden and he attempted to use his magic against the woman over him.

"You can go ahead and try to use that lightning of yours against me, but I guarantee that my bullet will move much faster than you can conjure up a spell," she said, keeping her revolver steadily hanging in his face.

"Desmond!"

The Captain felt his blood run cold when he heard Bern's shout from the naval ship. He looked up to see the Vice Admiral staring down at him with a fierce stare, Kira standing next to him with a look that said 'I told you so'.

"Sounds like you're master is calling, so feel lucky that he's in my good graces today," Cordelia said, "The only reason you're leaving here without a wound from me is because I'm sure Bern has something much worse in store for you. So piss off!" she snapped, letting her foot up off of his chest.

Desmond scrambled to his feet and began making his way towards the plank that led up to the naval ship. He slowed for a moment when he passed Zipporah. He frowned again when he saw the glare she sent his way.

"I said, piss off!" Cordelia shouted, shooting off a bullet at his feet to scare him into moving again.

Desmond took the warning shot to heart and ran the rest of the way up the plank and onto the ship. As soon as he came to stand next to Bern, the Vice Admiral placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, almost feeling like he was going to break it from the pressure he was using to squeeze it.

"Like I said, Bern, we'll be in touch!" Cordelia called up to him, "And I hope your subordinates are better trained the next time we see each other!"

"Aye, you don't need to worry about that!" was all he said before he turned away from Cordelia as his ship began to move out, guiding Desmond along with him to what Cordelia was she to be his doom for the day.

Cordelia then let out a sigh of relief as she recalled her revolver before looking over at Zipporah, "Are you all right then?"

"Yeah," she answered, slowly beginning to feel relaxed again, "Thank you for your help."

"Of course," Cordelia smiled, "But I might request that we talk later so I can get a better idea of what we're dealing with when it comes Desmond. If you don't mind anyways."

"Sure," Zipporah said with a nod before Alisa and Aria gathered around her.

"Oh, and be happy knowing you have such good friends to look out for you when I'm not here," Cordelia said, smiling at all three girls now before walking off across the guild, Eli and Ace still closely following her since they still had questions about the deal she had just made with Bern.

Zipporah could only smile in response as she had been happy to see her friends set aside their differences for once to make sure nothing bad would happen to her. She felt like she had lucked out with deciding to join the guild when she did.

**. : + : .**

"I swear to god, if a single one of you say a word about this to anyone, I will tear you all into fucking pieces," Gordon growled loudly from the stool he currently stood on.

"But it is such a lovely sight," Kasra said, "Why should we not share it with everyone?"

"And the color even suits you," Isaak added, "You should feel a little proud that you can pull it off so well."

Jean and Rin sat on a couch, the two currently cracking up so hard that they had to lean against each other for support.

It was then that Seth entered into the clothing store that Isaak had mentioned before the team split up. He called out for the group and quickly entered into the back area where the group was when he heard Isaak answer him. As soon as he stepped into the back room, he stopped to stare at what was happening. Isaak and Kasra were still making comments over Gordon while Jean and Rin still couldn't contain their laughter. Gordon stood on a small stool with a small, older woman flitting about him with pins and a measuring tape. Gordon was currently wearing a soft blue, satin dress with white frills along the edges of it. The old woman had been using him to piece together her newest dress that was to be used for a more voluptuous body type and the larger men in their group had been just what she was looking for to build the dress. Gordon stared flatly over at Seth when he saw how long he had been staring at him.

Soon enough, a smile crossed Seth's face, "So did Gordon finally swing to the other side?"

"What the hell kind of comment is that to make?!" Gordon roared as the rest of the room erupted in laughter, "Why am I always getting the short end of the stick here?! OW!" he yelled when he was suddenly pricked with a pin.

"Don't move so much," the old woman grumbled, "You'll mess everything up. So if you want that puzzle piece, I suggest you stay still."

"Old hag," he growled, only earning him another prick of a pin. The rest of his team continued in laughter at him, "I fucking hate you all."

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from Momochan77 for Seth:

**How many tattoos do you have?**

**Seth: **So I finally got a question just for me?

**Watson: **Yes, but your help within other question corners has been appreciated.

**Seth: **Oh, right! I had to carry you out of the last one! Haha!

**Watson: **Don't go bringing it up again! *throws pen at his head* Just concentrate on your question.

**Seth: **Hmm, well have all of them been revealed in the story now?

**Watson: **Yeah, they've all at least been mentioned even if they haven't been used.

**Seth: **All right, let's see. *looks down at chest* Two there. I think there's some on my back. Mind counting? *takes off hoodie*

**Watson: ***blushes* Shouldn't you just know how many you have already?!

**Seth: **Sometimes I forget, so just count them. Plus, they get to see them this way!

**Watson: **Three…there are three on your back. And there's one on your shoulder.

**Seth: **So that makes six so far. I should have two others… *begins to undo pants button*

**Watson: **GAH! Keep them on, you idiot! We all know by now you have two on your thighs, making for a grand total of eight!

**Seth: **But doesn't the crowd want to see them?

**Watson: **That wasn't part of the question! *looks to readers* Well that should be it for this time around! See you all next Sunday! *looks back at Seth* Well don't just stand there! Button your pants back up! Good lord! I don't need you teaching Gamu weird things!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

This was a pretty fun chapter! Between that opening fight, Cordelia making that deal with Bern, Desmond being Desmond and that ending scene it was all super fun! That ending scene though! Haha! I can't even feel bad for Gordon right now, so he keeps getting stuck in those situations! But it's just too much fun not to do it to him!

And I finally got to see Vin Diesel's new movie and it was awesome! So much action and awesomeness! I can't take it! Now he just needs to make the next Riddick movie! So hopefully some of the inspiration I felt from that movie transferred over into that first scene!

Oh and just as a fun fact here, the title that Seth has - Colossal Lycian - well Lycia is the originating place in Greece for chimeras, so that's where that comes from. So thanks again to Origm2012 for sending that title over for me for Seth! I think it worked rather nicely!

I think that should be it for this time, so I'll jump right into all those awesome reviews!

**Momochan77 - **Haha! Yep, Jean and Rin got super shot down! And hopefully that Round 2 with Atlas was just as good as the first one! And thanks for your question, especially since I used it this time around for the Question Corner! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Origm2012 - **Wasn't expecting that reverse order, haha! We talked about those videogames the other day, so that part if taken care of. Of course I had to use a cliff hanger right then! It was too good to pass up and it was made even better since it was Seth's fight, haha! That pervert genie was a big thanks to Dread since I really had no idea how he was going to play out, so it's great to see everyone enjoying the surprise of him being a huge pervert like that. And because of that decision, all I could picture was that blood leaking out of the spout, haha! It was great in my head, so it was good to see you all liked it too. And the ugly man hands! I still crack up over that since I hear it in that high pitched voice coming out from the lamp, lol! Sigh…Jean and Rin and their flirting attempts. It's just so bad, haha! But at least Isaak was able to slide right in there with his smoothness and fix everything! But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one too!

**Benthino - **Haha! There might be a bit of a theme there. But Bahir turned out so well! But so many awesome things got set up that chapter that we got to see play out in this one! So I hope you enjoyed it!

**reven228 - **YAS! I got to have a Pokemon reference! But I started making myself laugh since Kasra and Ingrid appeared in my head when I read that, lol! But I'm glad you enjoyed all the things going on in the last chapter, especially with Atlas coming in for her next fight! CHA! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Joshua1277 - **Yep, Cordelia definitely gets to enjoy walking around freely on that naval ship with a bounty on her head. She couldn't really pass that up, lol. Yeah, Desmond…things aren't going to end well for him now that Bern has a hold of him. Haha! Those pick up lines were so bad! I give them kudos for trying though! But I'm glad you liked how Bahir turned out. And Atlas doesn't seem to pay attention to his losses, does he? But he's the world champ, so why would he? Haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart - **Yep! A genie! But a completely perverted one! Good thing none of the girls were there or else they might not have gotten anything done with Bahir freaking out over them, lol! But I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the fight in that first scene!

**XLil MEkoX - **That flirting from Jean and Rin…sigh…it was just so bad, lol! But at least Isaak came in to save the day! And Gordon will continue to get the short straw, if this chapter proved anything! And always with the cliff hangers! I can't let an opportunity pass with them! But I believe most of them were answered in this chapter, so not too long of a wait to see how everything turned out! So I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**ThePrinceOfLight - **Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Yep, after all the crap Cordelia has been through, it's nice to see her back to being herself. She even convinced Bern into a deal! And we got to find out about Desmond and Zipporah this chapter. Haha! Yeah, I would never advise on taking flirting tips from Jean and Rin. Always got to Isaak first! And it seems that most of you liked Bahir, so I'm glad he turned out so well! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Dreadburner94 (Guest) - **Always with the procrastination, lol! But yeah, Jean and Rin…sigh…they really need to take some lessons from Isaak. At least one out of the three knows what they're doing when it comes to flirting, lol. Haha! Yeah, both Bahir and Gordon got the short end of the stick when it came to him being summoned. And hopefully the return of Atlas was just as good as the first round of his fighting! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	37. Angra Mainyu

**A/N: **A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 37: Angra Mainyu**

**April 16, X792 – Mid-Morning**

The small, old woman in the clothing shop stared over her handy work that still currently hung on Gordon. The metal mage still held an unamused face as he tried his best to ignore the laughing that was still coming from the group of men beside him.

"No."

Gordon looked down at the woman when he heard her speak, "No? What do you mean no?"

"No, no, no, no, no," she repeated quickly, "It's all wrong. I must fix it at once! Maybe in purple this time."

"Excuse me?!" Gordon snapped, "I just stood here letting you prick me with damn needles and put this stupid dress together! There's no way I'm doing it a second damn time!"

"Mmm, I suppose I should have used a real woman," she said, earning an eye twitch from Gordon, "Yes, a real woman will do much better."

Isaak stepped in before Gordon could blow up on the woman, "Well, since he did go through the trouble of being your practice frame, could we still have the puzzle piece we came for?"

The woman eyed Isaak for a moment before she sighed, "I suppose so. You were all good sports about this," she said as she moved towards a large closet stored with fabrics. They could hear her moving a few things around before she came back out while pushing an overly large, red puzzle piece that stood as tall as her, "Here you are."

"I suppose it was a good thing you guys came to meet up with us after all," Rin said, looking at Seth, Kasra and Gordon, "These things will be easier to carry with your help."

Isaak walked up to the piece, taking it from the woman and leaning it so the flat surface of it faced him that held black lettering on it. He quickly read over it once before reading it out loud for the rest of the room to hear, "Way down deep where it's dark and wet is where you'll find the next piece."

"I hope we don't have to go down into a cave," Rin mentioned as the rest of them thought over where the next piece could be located.

"Hmm, it isn't quite a cave," Jean said, turning to the old woman, "Does there happen to be a well here in town?"

"Yes. Take a right when you leave here and go all the way down the street and then take a left. You should see it at the end of that street right before you hit the forest."

"Thank you," Jean said, "We should be going then. You will need to take the dress off, Gordon," he added with a smirk.

Gordon could only glare at the smiling group before ripping the dress off and throwing it over at the woman and stomping out of the store. The group said their goodbyes to the woman before following him, Kasra carrying the first puzzle piece. They followed her directions, seeing she had been correct when they all walked up to a well on the outskirts of town.

"So I am going to assume it is at the bottom of the well," Jean said as the six men stared down the manmade hole, "But who gets to be the one to get it out?"

"Well, it seems only right that the one to figure out the clue is the one to go in and get it," Rin stated with a smile.

"Yes, I suppose you do have a point," Jean said before he suddenly realized what Rin had meant, "Wait a minute."

"Too late! You already agreed!" Rin said, smacking a hand to his back to send him over the edge, "Just land in the bucket!"

Jean shouted the entire way down the well before landing with a heavy grunt in what sounded like the bucket at the end of the rope to the rest of the group standing around the well, "How dare you! Do you know how much these clothes cost me?! Now they are soaked in dirty well water!"

"Oh, stop being a cry baby and look around for that puzzle piece!" Rin shouted down at him.

"I cannot believe this!" Jean grumbled, "Just wait until I get back up there!" he continued, but started looking around for the puzzle piece nonetheless. He eventually spotted it within the wall of the well, having to use one of his rapiers to pry it out. It eventually popped out and he caught it before it fell into the water, "All right, pull me up!"

"Do you have the puzzle piece?" Rin asked.

"Yes, yes! Now pull me up!"

"Are you sure?"

"Dammit Rin! Pull me up this instant!"

Isaak rolled his eyes at the two men yet again as he pushed Rin out of the way and began pulling on the rope to the bucket, having Gordon help him out with the process. Soon enough, Jean appeared, looking like a wet dog sitting in the bucket with a glare on his face.

"I suppose it wasn't so bad wearing a dress, now was it?" Seth asked, looking over at Gordon with a smile.

Gordon twitched in anger as he let go of the rope to start arguing with Seth. This caused the bucket to fall back into the well since Isaak hadn't been prepared for Gordon to release the rope. Jean once again shouted as he was sent flying back into the well, the bucket barely being stopped in time from crashing into the bottom of it by Isaak pulling on it as hard as he could. Once he let out a sigh of relief, Isaak turned back to the metal mage to send him a glare while Jean could be heard shouting from the well again.

"You should pay more attention to what you're doing," Seth said.

"And you shouldn't say stupid things!" Gordon snapped before taking his place behind Isaak again, the two men once again pulling Jean back up.

"You all are the worst teammates ever," Jean said once he was up above the well again, "And someone better take this puzzle piece and get me out of this bucket before you idiots drop me back down there!"

Seth stepped up to take the puzzle piece from him first, setting it down against the well before turning back and pulling Jean out of the bucket and onto solid ground. Seth then moved back towards the piece and picked it up to read over the black lettering on it.

"My girl's name is Senora. I tell you friends, I adore her. And when she dances, oh brother. She's a hurricane in all kinds of weather."

The men stood looking at each other, trying to figure out what the clue meant and hoping no one would say what came to mind first. Though, Rin seemed to shatter that hope instantly.

"Does this mean we get to go to a strip club?"

"You moron!" Jean shouted, smacking the younger man upside the head.

"What? It was talking about a woman dancing!"

"Just because a woman is dancing does not mean that she is automatically a stripper! Honestly!"

"Jean has a point," Isaak interrupted before the two men could continue, "Plus, I remember seeing a dance studio earlier in town, so we should probably head there."

The team nodded in agreement before moving back into town, Seth carrying the second puzzle piece.

**. : + : .**

The team was currently making their way out of a bar where they had found the sixth puzzle piece, having found the others before it at various locations throughout the town.

"That was smart thinking using Kasra as our player in the arm wrestling match in there, Isaak," Rin said.

"Of course," Isaak smirked, "It made it hard for the other men to pay attention with Kasra admiring them."

"Really, they should have put up a better fight," Kasra said, "Calling themselves men and then freezing up like that. It makes it hard to admire their muscles when they are not using them."

Half the group laughed in response while the other half rolled their eyes. Though, before anyone could say anything further, the light in the area began dimming as lights began to flash around. Loud and heavy music began playing as the ring that belonged to Atlas appeared at the end of the street.

"Seriously?! Again?! Does this guy not know how to fucking lose?!" Gordon shouted.

"I thought I knocked him out," Seth said, scratching the back of his head, "He must have a lot of energy to burn through."

"Well, who's going to take him this time?" Isaak asked, the entire group ignoring Atlas's introduction into the ring.

"I do believe it is my turn to fight him," Kasra said, a devious smile spreading across his face.

"Have at it," Isaak said, "Meet us back where Bahir is waiting for us since we only have a few pieces of the puzzle left to find."

Kasra nodded in agreement, watching the group run off towards their next destination for the seventh puzzle piece. He then turned back towards the wrestler at the end of the street, seeing his men cheering loudly for him while he continued to pose in the ring. Kasra's smile only grew as he began making his way towards the ring.

"Ah, have you come to fight the champion?!"

"I suppose that is one thing I will be doing here today," Kasra answered, looking out across the recently fixed ring before turning his attention back on Atlas, "Are you sure this ring will hold us?"

"Of course! I would never come unprepared to a fight! It has enough strength to hold up a hundred men!"

"Is that so? We will have to see if that is true," he said before pulling himself up into the ring. He walked straight up to Atlas and began circling him while inspecting him, "It is finally nice to examine you close up. You are quite the specimen."

"Oh? You admire the champion then?!" Atlas asked, striking a few poses for Kasra.

The take over mage smirked in response as his eyes lit up with appreciation for the man before him. Unlike most of the men on the guild, Atlas didn't flinch away from his staring or words of admiration. It made him that much more likable in Kasra's book since he took his compliments in stride, almost seeming to find pride in them.

"Honestly, I am," Kasra finally said as he came back around to stand in front of him, "Though, it does seem Seth did quite the number on you. You would certainly look better without all the damage taken along with that chipped tooth, but still a fine specimen nonetheless."

"So you are already awestricken?! I knew it would only be a matter of time before I had you all marveling at my mere presence! Though, I am a bit disappointed that you have been stricken by my glory so early on! How will I fight you now?!"

"Oh, do not get me wrong," Kasra said, his smile still intact, "You may be a piece of lovely work to admire, but I still do have a job to do given to me by Miss Murdock. I will fight you and you will lose. You may even wish that you would have stayed down after your fight with Seth as I do not plan to go easy on you even if you have already fought twice while I am currently unscathed and have my full magic supply at the ready."

"The champion would have it no other way! There is no honor in winning a lukewarm fight!"

"Then shall we begin? I am quite ready whenever you are."

"Let's go!" Atlas shouted, causing one of his men to ring the bell.

The wrestler charged Kasra, not wanting to waste any time with the fight. He began with an onslaught of punches, but soon became frustrated as Kasra dodged each one of them with a smile. Atlas shouted as he attempted to use his Lariat move on him, his forearm moving towards his neck. Though, Kasra easily moved to the side and caught his arm by the wrist.

"Brute force may be helpful with the offensive fighting you use, but it is meaningless if you cannot even hit your target."

Atlas had been surprised by the man catching his arm when the same move had worked so well on Gordon previously. He then realized that he was going to have to be much more careful around this man as his levels of intelligence and observation were much higher than his last two opponents. He attempted to swing a leg towards Kasra, but the mage caught onto what he was doing instantly. He caught his leg in mid-air with his free hand, now being able to flip the man up and over him, slamming him down onto the ring with his backside facing upwards. Atlas let out a whoosh of air from the slam and he didn't have enough time to notice Kasra's next attack. The take over mage wasted no time in dropping down onto Atlas and delivering a heavy blow with his elbow. Atlas let out a groan of pain as the elbow drove right into his spine, causing him to stay down a moment longer than usual to let the pain fade.

"I hope that is not all you have. Otherwise, this will be a rather boring fight for me."

Atlas used Kasra's words to fuel himself back into a standing position. Once back on his feet, he turned to face the still smiling man, "Not at all! I am the champion for a reason!" he announced before he forced his magic to flow through his body, strengthening and enlarging his muscles in the process, but it was easy to tell how tired the man had become from overusing his abilities and the damage he had taken from both Gordon and Seth.

"Well, that is quite the manly ability," Kasra said, immensely enjoying the sight before him now.

"You should be more worried now, no matter how much the champion enjoys your admiration!"

"If you do not mind, I would like to show you my own abilities since you seem to have boosted your level of strength. It is only fair and you seem to be a fan of level playing fields."

"I encourage you to boost your own strength! I only want a fair and honorable fight, so please do so! That way my title of champion can truly stay in place!"

"Even if this guarantees you to lose?"

"I will not lose! No matter what you may be able to do, you shall be the one facing failure today!"

"We will see," Kasra said as he readied himself for his spell, "Avatar Soul: Angra Mainyu."

As the spell took over his body, he gained a black, carapace-like skin that was similar to a skin tight armor that covered him from head to toe. In this new form, he was much taller and more muscular along with broader shoulders that had curved spikes coming out on each side. His feet had also transformed so that he walked on his tiptoes instead of flat on his feet, his heels now having black spikes on them as well. On the top layer of his forearms were scimitar appendages made out of a hard, gray material that could retract back into place. His torso was covered in a silver, sleeveless chest-plate made out of the same material as the scimitars. On his head he wore a silver, dragon horned shaped helmet and his pupils were now in a triangle shaped formation while his teeth had become sharp and jagged.

The men around the ring went silent upon seeing the new formation of the man, and even Atlas himself was having a hard time taking it in.

"Well…this is new for the champion," Atlas mumbled before he returned to his previous confidence, "But no matter! I will still prevail!"

This time when Atlas moved to charge in on Kasra, the take over mage followed suit, the ring creaking under his new form as he moved. And while he may not have been as fast as he was in his Amesha Spenta form, Angra Mainyu more than made up for that in the strength and durability departments. The two men met fist to fist, seeming to cancel each other out. Though, they both did feel a ripple of the other's power run up their arms. Once the feel of the first hit faded, the two moved in to start a heavy hand to hand combat battle. Punches flew back and forth, moving quick enough to make it hard for the men around the ring watching to see them. Though, unlike Seth's fight, Kasra had chosen not to use the bands around the ring since he could feel the ring groaning from the weight and pressure that was already on it. He was fairly certain that if he tried to bounce off the bands, it would only cause the destruction of the ring to happen earlier than it was supposed to, so he made sure to keep himself as well as Atlas in the middle of it. And so while he was concentrated on keeping them both in the middle of the ring while holding off his punches, he wasn't watching Atlas's feet as the wrestler suddenly twisted in his fighting.

"Super Kick!" Atlas shouted, spinning and landing a roundhouse kick on Kasra's side.

This sent the take over mage sliding across the ring, causing him to flick out the scimitars and slam them into the ring to stop himself from falling out of it. This left behind two thin, torn up lines in the ring, which only had the ring groaning in protest even more. Kasra knew he had to make the next few attacks count before the ring fell apart. He was certain that if the ring was destroyed that Atlas would make them stop and wait for it to be rebuilt, and while he did enjoy admiring the man in front of him, he also needed to meet up with the group to complete their mission.

Kasra stood up straight and retracted the blades back into his forearms before pushing off from the ring straight towards Atlas. He began his own onslaught of kicks, using the spikes on his heels to his advantage as they managed to slice across the man's skin a few times. Kasra could tell that even though he had revived from his fight with Seth that Atlas was definitely more sluggish than he had been when he had watched him fight Gordon. It was quite easy to see that he would be the winner of this fight and that thought was almost disappointing since he had hoped for a harder fight from the man in front of him. He could only hope that at some point in the future that he would get to fight Atlas again at his full strength.

"While I must say that you have put up great effort through fighting three opponents today," Kasra began, easily dodging punches being sent his way while slamming his own punches all over Atlas's body, "You are also fighting an opponent now that is at their full power while you are having to force magic through your body," he continued, slamming more and more punches into the wrestler, "As I said before, this was only going to cause you to lose today. As a champion, you should know when to stand down instead of straining your body so much. I do hope you learn something from this," he said, as he jumped back for a moment.

He watched Atlas's body sway from the chain of attacks he had been receiving without being able to fight back and having used up his supply of magic. Knowing that it was time to make the finishing move, Kasra ran and jumped high into the air. He came back down on Atlas, spinning once as he stretched a leg out. Using the momentum of the fall and spin as well as the power his current form held, he landed the kick right in the back of Atlas's head, sending him straight down into the ring. As soon as his body slammed into it, the ring completely broke apart, the entirety of it falling to the ground in a crumbled mess. Atlas laid in the middle of it, unmoving and knocked out like he had been when Seth had made his final blow on him. Though, this time he had no magic reserves left to ignite him back to life.

"It does pain me to beat down such a handsome man," Kasra said as he landed on the outskirts of the mess of the ring. He dropped his magic, fading back into his normal figure, "But as I said, I have a job to complete. And I hope there are no hard feelings in this when you wake up as it does appear you are no longer the champion. If you wish to set up a rematch, then please do come by our guild and you may fight for the title again."

With that, Kasra left the area to head to where they had left Bahir, a smile to still on his lips as he knew that this wouldn't be the last time he saw the handsome wrestler.

* * *

**A/N: **There we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

This was definitely supposed to be updated last night, as I had it completed and everything, but I was staying out at my parents place for the weekend to help watch the dog while they were away and my computer just would not connect to their wifi! I tried and tried to get it to work but to no avail! So sorry for making you all wait for the chapter!

And I know, short chapter is short, but I was having some trouble getting this completed. I'm not sure why this one was a bit harder to finish, but it was. So I wanted to save what happens next for the next chapter when it flows a little more easily. Still, I hope you enjoyed it.

And kudos to those of you that know what I used for that dancing clue that came out of the well, haha!

Also, if you all read Thunder Stone, then you'll already know about the challenge that was given to me. Originally, the challenge was supposed to be for last week, but as I stated above, I was having a really hard time writing this week and I ended up not being able to write much at all, so thankfully the person that issued me the challenge was nice enough to let me move it to this week. So I'm starting fresh with this chapter as the start for it.

Now then, for the actual challenge itself, it was given to me by XLil MEkoX, so you have them to thank for the chapters that should be coming out quickly (they better be this time around!). But I have a week to get out as many chapters as I can. And this isn't just a random challenge either as I get something in return for the chapters I post. So with every Storm's Helm chapter I post, I get two characters drawn. And with every Thunder Stone chapter posted, I get a team drawn. So it's my hope that I'll be able to get out a good number of chapters since it seems like I broke out of whatever writer's block I was in. So hopefully this week will be a much smoother week for the challenge. And with this chapter, I'm starting out with getting two Storm's Helm's characters drawn up. So that's already a start!

So yeah, that's the challenge this week.

Anyways, short author's note will also be short today. But as always, I do appreciate all your reviews and love for this story! Every review always makes me smile and I can only hope that you all continue to enjoy the story!

That should be it for this time.

The next chapter should be up soon!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	38. Join My Guild!

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 38: Join My Guild!**

**April 16, X792 – Midday**

Rin stared down at the concoction in the large glass in front of him with a deep look of disgust. He still didn't understand how he had been the one to get stuck with drinking it. He looked back towards the other four men waiting for him to complete his mission in order for them to gain the last puzzle piece, "Can we not just have Gordon do this as well?"

"Hell no we can't!" Gordon shouted.

"He did have to wear a dress," Isaak smirked.

"And you pushed me into that well," Jean said, still clearly upset with the well incident and the fact that he had to run around town in dirty clothes, "You have gotten out of doing everything else, so you are going to do this. Besides, you chose the shortest straw."

"But I do not even know what is in this," Rin said as he turned back towards the glass that held a murky pink substance in it.

"It's probably better that you don't," the owner of the restaurant they were in stated, "Otherwise you wouldn't be able to down it at all."

Rin only made another disgusted face as he poked the glass, prompting Gordon to start shouting at him.

"Just chug the damn thing so we can get this over with! You've been staring at it for ten damn minutes!"

"Quiet!" Rin hissed at him, "I have to work up some courage here."

Rin finally took a deep breath, picking up the glass and plugging his nose. The others watched him, all of them making their own faces of disgust when he finally started drinking the thick, pink liquid. Even with his nose plugged, it didn't help much with the taste of it, Rin still making a few gagging noises as he chugged the glass. It took him a few good minutes to get through it all, but eventually he slammed the empty glass down on the counter. Everyone was quiet for a moment, waiting to see if he would throw it all back up, but Rin managed to keep himself composed.

"I can say that I'm rather impressed," the man behind the counter said before pulling out the large, red puzzle piece they needed to finish their collection, "Here you boys go."

"Thank you very much," Isaak said as he took the puzzle piece, "Looks like we have everything we need, so let's head back to Bahir now."

"That was pretty impressive!" Seth said, smacking Rin on the back, "I don't think I'd ever be able to do something like that!"

Rin had barely been holding himself together, so when the smack was made to his back, it seemed to break the control he had over himself and he went running out the front door, making a beeline for a grouping of bushes towards the side of the building and promptly emptied his stomach there.

"Whoops," Seth said as he rubbed the back of his head, "Didn't mean to smack it back out of the poor guy."

"Well, it was bound to happen anyways," Isaak said as the group made their way outside to wait for Rin to finish his business. When they stepped outside, they saw Kasra approaching them, a smile playing at his lips, "You look to be pleased with yourself," Isaak said, looking up at the man, "Did you beat Atlas then?"

"Yes, I do not believe he will be getting back up this time," Kasra answered, "So we should be in the clear for the time being."

"Aww, I was hoping to at least catch a glimpse of your fight," Seth said.

"Well, you may just get to be able to see that sometime in the future. He is the champion after all, right? And a champion must protect his title. He will be back at some point to reclaim it."

"Sounds like fun," Seth smiled.

"Now then, what happened here?" Kasra asked, pointing over towards Rin.

"The idiot got what he deserved," Jean huffed.

"He got stuck with getting the last puzzle piece," Isaak explained, "And well…let's just say you should be happy that you weren't here when we drew straws for it."

"I see," Kasra said, "So was that the last puzzle piece?"

"It was, so we should be heading back to Bahir now," Isaak said as Rin finished up with his business and walked over towards the group with a queasy look on his face, "Are you good to go?" he asked, earning a small nod from Rin, "Then let's go."

The group made their way through town, heading back towards the antique shop where they had left the spirit. Upon returning to the street, they turned just in time to watch Bahir attempt to make a move on an unsuspecting woman, his hand moving to grope her butt. This elicited a loud scream from the woman and a hard smack across his face. He landed on the ground with a darker red mark across his naturally red skin, but he had hearts in his eyes and blood trickling out of his nose nonetheless.

"It was worth it," he mumbled as the woman huffed and stormed off.

The group of six men walked up to the fallen genie, staring down at him in slight shame.

"Are you quite finished?" Jean asked.

Bahir looked up to see the group of men around him before jumping back to his feet, "I did nothing wrong! It would have been wrong to not give her a squeeze!"

The men only stared at the genie flatly in response.

Bahir coughed out in embarrassment before speaking again, "Well then, did you collect all nine pieces of the puzzle?"

"We did" Isaak answered, "We can put them together now, can't we?"

"Wait!" Bahir called out when they all started moving the pieces around to fit them together, "Not here!"

**. : + : .**

"As I said before," Jean began as the six men were once again staring flatly at Bahir as he ran up onto the guild with a child-like excitement, going on about beautiful women and their assets, "Of all the genies we had to find, we found the perverted one."

Isaak sighed before he spoke, "Well, it can't really be helped right now. He is kind of in charge of this clue."

"Girls, girls, girls!" Bahir said as he flitted about the guild, "Teenage girls and fully bloomed women everywhere! It's been so long! What shall I try first? Simple groping or some skirt flipping?! Ohhhhh! If they have a women's bath on board it'll be like a dream come true! Ahahahahaha!" he continued, his eyes becoming hearts again at the thought of it all. His eyes soon landed on a busty, blonde beauty and he stopped all movement for a moment.

The emerald green eyes of Zhuue landed on the red skinned man, causing her to cock her head to the side at the odd sight. She was even more surprised when the man zipped up to her in a second flat, her eyes wide at the sight of him before her rather than the feeling of his hands on her chest.

"It's perfect!" Bahir said, practically crying over the weight in his hands.

Zhuue finally looked down to see her chest being groped by red hands, causing a heavy blush to cross her cheeks. She quickly jumped back away from him, throwing up a hand to stop him from coming near her again as she blew on a whistle loudly.

"Stranger danger!" Haruna shouted as she came flying down on the top of the genie along with Squall, the two girls landing right on top of his back and smacking him down onto the deck. The blue haired teen looked up at Zhuue with a bright smile, "Looks like the whistle worked, neh Sho?!"

"I told you there was a reason I wanted you to get them when stopped in that port before all of this started," the little, maroon Exceed said as he flew above the two young girls.

"And since we had three, Zhuue got to have one too!" Haruna said, her smiling widening when Zhuue bent down to hug her and nuzzle her cheek against her mocha colored one.

Haruna then felt a tug on her shirt, the nature mage looking down to see Squall was the one to gain her attention. The smaller girl pointed down at the genie, having a confused look on her face. Zhuue quickly released Haruna and yanked Squall away from the spirit, holding her tightly as she shook her head to tell her to stay away from him. Squall simply sighed in response as she patted the blonde's head.

Haruna began hopping on top of the spirit as she began to question him, "So what are you? And why is your skin red? What are those bands on your arms? And why were you being a pervert? You know that's not nice, right? That's not how you get a girlfriend, neh Sho?"

"Hell no, that's not how you get one!"

"What do you mean, what am I?!" Bahir shouted, finally getting up off of the deck. When he stood back up, a bright, red light expanded all around him as he struck what he thought was a powerful looking pose, "I am the great and all powerful Bahir! I am the spirit of wishes filled with cosmic power beyond belief!" he began, catching both Haruna's and Sho's attention, their eyes growing wide with wonder, "I am also the skirt flipping champion! I can tell you every style of panty there is! And I can tell you a woman's measurements from a mile away!"

While Haruna's eyes stayed wide in wonder, Sho's face instantly fell into one of anger as he hissed at the genie and quickly scratched him several times before dragging Haruna away from him.

"You are never allowed to go near genies ever again!" Sho shouted.

"But Shooooooo," she whined, "He's a genie! He can wish me all the food I want!"

"Yeah, and then he'll try to feel you up! It's not happening!"

Bahir only stayed standing like he had been, but now there were dark red scratches all over his face, "Woe is the life of a lover!"

"You mean pervert," Jean huffed as the group of men that had been on the island walked passed the genie, "Now get moving! I am certain our guild master would like to have the clue once we get this puzzle put together."

A sweat drop fell down the side of Bahir's head before he quickly followed the group, his eyes still constantly gazing over all the women on the guild.

"Oh, and I'd suggest you keep your hands to yourself when you're around her," Isaak said as they made their way up onto the deck of the middle ship.

"Her? Ohhhhh! Your guild master is a woman!" Bahir said, picturing what she would look like, "Wait? Are you trying to threaten me? Don't tell me you all are going to beat me up for laying a hand on your pretty guild master."

"No, no," Isaak smiled, "She's quite capable of taking care of herself. I'm telling you this for your own benefit."

"Plus, if Eli's with her…" Seth said, the rest of the group making a face along with him.

"Well, I am nothing if not faithful to my religion!" Bahir said.

"Religion?" Rin questioned.

"Yes! I follow the path of beautiful women!"

The six men only sighed in response as they rolled their eyes.

The group soon spotted Cordelia sitting at one of the bars playing a game of tic-tac-toe with Gamu with a glass of whiskey in one hand. She hummed lightly and enjoyed the alcohol as she waited for the man to take his turn. Though, she had been waiting a good fifteen minutes already as he kept on getting distracted from his perched spot on top of the bar. Eli sat next to Cordelia, leaning back on the counter as he strummed along on his guitar.

Bahir moved the men out of his way, parting them to the sides as he looked like he was practically undressing Cordelia with his eyes. The wind caught her hair just right, sweeping it back enough to show off the sparkle of her blue eyes, instantly pulling in the genie. He slowly made his way up towards her, his fingers moving in a jittery fashion at the prospect of getting a handful of her backside. Just as his hands came within inches of her butt, a light click stopped him. He suddenly found himself looking down the barrel of a silver gun.

"I'd suggest you keep your hands to yourself if you don't feel like getting a bullet through your head," she said, keeping a sweet smile on her face. She stayed facing the game she had going on with Gamu while taking a calm sip of her drink, "But you know, I don't really feel like wasting bullets and getting everyone all riled up," she added as she recalled her gun.

Bahir looked uncertain for a moment, but shrugged before moving his hands forward again. His fingertips barely grazed her pants when a flame engulfed fist hit him in an uppercut. It sent him flying across the deck, leaving behind a burn mark under his jaw as he landed flat on his back.

"But that doesn't mean I don't have an attack dog on the side," Cordelia said with a smirk, "Sick him, boy," she added, glancing over at Eli.

"Gladly," he answered, cracking his knuckles as he smirked darkly and made his way over towards the red man. He soon launched himself on Bahir while the other men walked up to Cordelia.

Cordelia turned to face the men with her smile still intact while Gamu completely forgot about the game and jumped from the counter to perch on one of Seth's shoulders, "I think he's been waiting for you to come back," she said with a light chuckle.

"Much better," Gamu said as he settled into his usual spot.

Seth laughed in response, "I'll remember to take you with me next time then!"

"So!" Cordelia began, the entire group ignoring the fact that Eli was beating up a genie in the background, "Did you manage to complete everything successfully?"

"That's what we actually came here for, angel," Isaak said with his own smile, "We just have to put these puzzle pieces together and then the genie the buffoon over there is punching will give us the next clue to the map."

"I see. So then it probably isn't a good idea to let Eli keep going like he is."

"Probably not."

Cordelia turned her attention to the one sided fight going on, smiling widely as she let it go on for another minute before finally deciding to stop things. She whistled loudly, managing to catch Eli's attention, "That's enough," she said, causing him to drop the beaten and swollen genie to the deck, "Now bring him here," she said. Eli did as she said, dragging the genie across the deck by a leg and dropping him in front of Cordelia, "Good boy," she said with a pat to his head.

"I ain't a dog!"

"But you listened so well like one!"

"Tch," was all he replied with as he returned to his spot next to her at the bar.

"Let's put that puzzle together then!" she announced, watching as the group of men set to work and placed all the pieces together to create a large, red square. Once the last piece was in place, the square began to glow along with the bands around Bahir's wrists. The runes began to move along them quickly until they all disappeared and the bands broke off his wrists, clanking down onto the deck.

Bahir jumped back up to his feet as soon as the bands were off, "I'm feeeeeee!" he said, his words muffled by his still swollen face.

"Uhhh…maybe you shouldn't talk with your face swollen like that…" Cordelia said.

Bahir quickly shook his face, using his returned magic to get rid of all the damage, "Once again, I'm freeeeee! And in return I shall give you the next clue to the map!"

Isaak quickly handed over the map to Cordelia, the guild master rolling out the paper and held it before Bahir. He held one hand over the map and soon a drop of red landed on the map and uncovered the next clue.

"What was that?" Cordelia asked.

"Liquefied genie magic! You won't find anything purer!"

"At least something about him is pure," Jean mumbled.

"Ohhh! He's a genie!" Gamu said, not really having been keeping up with everything going on, "Do we get wishes then? Wishes! Wishes!"

Bahir opened his mouth to answer him, but Cordelia quickly cut him off.

"Nope, we don't need any of his wishes," she said, a confident smile on her face, "We'll make them all happen on our own."

Bahir smiled in reply and he bowed in respect towards her, "If that is what you wish," he said. Though, he started moving his hands towards her again in his bent form, but he didn't make it very far when Eli slammed a foot down on his hands, "Just let a guy have some fun already!"

"Hell no!" Eli shouted.

"There's a world of women at your fingertips now," Isaak said, "I think you can have any number of them aside from our angel of a guild master here."

Bahir watched him for a moment before he gave in with a sigh, "I suppose you're right. There are plenty of beautiful women in the world just waiting for me to flip their skirts! I must protect my title of champion!" he shouted, his nose beginning to bleed again from thinking about all the women he could now peep on, "So on that note, I once again thank you for my freedom and good luck in your treasure hunt!" he said as he began floating up off of the deck. Before he completely flew out of sight, he stopped to smile at Cordelia, "Oh, and if you happen to see Blackstroker, give him a good punch for me!"

"Don't worry. I've already got one lined up for him," she answered.

"Good to hear!" he said before disappearing up into the sky.

"Ah, angel," Isaak said, looking down at Cordelia, "You do realize that you could have wished for Bahir to bring Blackstroker here to the guild, right?"

Cordelia froze up for a moment before she dropped to the deck in defeat, thick streams of tears rolling down her face, "I could have had that damn pirate handed over on a silver platter…"

"What the hell, you four eyed loser?!" Eli shouted, "Why'd you have to go and make her all depressed for?!"

"I couldn't help but point it out. It'll be good for her to remember things like that for the future."

While the two men continued arguing, Gamu jumped down from Seth's shoulder to poke Cordelia in the arm, "The map," he said, "What does the map say?" he asked before he began playing with the loose strands of her hair.

"Oh right!" she said, completely forgetting about the wasted wish as she sat up Indian style and rolled out the map in front of her, "So you got Bahir to work with you? Wonderful! Although, I do hope that he didn't get to too many of your women if you have any aboard your ship. He was so upset with me when I locked him away. Something about ugly man hands…" Cordelia read off, hearing a few of the men around her start laughing while Gordon only huffed in response, "Now then, for the next clue! It'll be interesting to how quickly you can get to this clue as it's all about timing! So I continue to wish you luck with your hunting! William Blackstroker," Cordelia continued as she moved down to the next clue, "On an island of perpetual rain there are two sisters. One gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. You must name these sisters and find where they reside in order to unlock the next clue."

"Well, it is fairly obvious that the next island we need to go to us Pluvia," Jean said. It was common knowledge to most people that Pluvia was an island that was almost always under a constant downpour of rain, "But as for what these sisters are, I am not sure on that."

"Then it looks like we'll just have to figure it out when we get there," Cordelia said, "I'll let Matilda know which way to head here in a bit, but thanks for your hard work today men! Go get yourselves checked out by Jack if you need it and then I'll buy you all a round of drinks!" she said, namely looking at Seth since he had the most scrapes and bruises out of anyone in the group, "And Gordon," she said, stopping the metal mage from leaving.

"What is it now?" he grumbled at her.

"I really mean it. Thank you for helping out today," she said as she stuck out a hand towards him.

Gordon stared down at her outstretched hand, trying to figure out if he should answer the handshake or not. He started to hesitantly reach out for it before shaking his head and shoving his hands in his pockets, giving her his usual grumpy face, "Yeah, yeah. Just don't be asking for my help all the damn time. You gotta remember how much I fucked up the last three years, right?"

Cordelia frowned and dropped her hand to her side as she watched him leave the deck. Though, she soon felt a heavy hand on top of her head, causing her to look up and see Seth smiling down at her.

"Don't look so worried. He'll come around in time," he said, "I thought he would be hard to deal with today, but he was a decent sport about things, even when he had to wear a dress."

"What?"

"Haha, never mind. That's not the point," he answered, "But Gordon isn't one to change so easily, so it'll take time. But I think you can do it. You're a good guild master, Cordelia."

A light blush crossed her cheeks at the compliment, "Thanks."

He patted her lightly on the head with a smile, "One day you'll be able to shake his hand," he said, "Now then, to go hunt down Jack! My side is really killing me!"

"Ah, it looks like we have a visitor again," Kasra said, a wide smile crossing his face again as he pointed down onto the island.

Everyone turned to see Atlas standing on a spot on the island where everyone could see him. They noticed how badly he had been beaten since he had first appeared before them, but he wore his own wide smile nonetheless.

"This guy is amazing!" Seth said with a laugh, "How is he even still standing?"

"He fought all three of you, right?" Cordelia asked, looking over at Seth and Kasra.

"Indeed, he did," Kasra answered.

"Well then," Cordelia said with a smile as she walked towards the edge of the deck she stood on to face Atlas, "I must say, I'm impressed that you fought three of my men and can still stand and walk!"

"And I must say that I am more than pleased with the men you sent out!" Atlas answered, "They were all wonderful! The champion couldn't ask for better opponents!"

"It's sad to think that you couldn't make us marvel at your strength!"

"Oh, I do believe we marveled," Kasra said, causing Cordelia to laugh in response before she continued speaking.

"But I am happy to actually see someone with honor from your crew! At least assuming you aren't here to fight some more or to demand the map back!"

"No, no," Atlas shook his head, "The champion knows when to step back...for now anyways. You have earned that map in my eyes. So enjoy your glorious victory!"

Cordelia smiled brightly at him, "I know I haven't gotten to speak with you much, but I quite like you already. You should join my guild!"

"WHAT?!" the group around her shouted.

"I second that decision," Kasra said with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

Atlas was unsure of how to answer her proposition. He had already sworn to be part of the Black Skulls, but something about the woman's smile and her open attitude towards him made his loyalty falter.

"I…I cannot," Atlas said with an unusual frown, "The captain has already promised me consistent, amazing fights!"

"I can give you better ones! This is a legal guild! We have exciting missions all the time! And not to mention all the bad guys that attack us like that captain of yours! And the people on the guild make it an adventure every day! You could spar with someone every day too!"

Atlas only continued to frown at her response, knowing for certain that what she was saying was true, but he still had given Madmartigan his word to be a part of his crew.

"And I can give you a family!" she added, smiling warmly down at him now.

Atlas's eyes grew wide at that simple answer. He may have been part of a crew now, but knew for certain that it was no family. Not with the way that Madmartigan ran things. Her offer continued to tug at him, the wrestler wanting nothing more than accept it. Without knowing who he really was, she opened her home to him, promised him excitement and adventure, and he knew that all of it would be true.

"The champion is flattered by your offer!" he finally answered, "But he also has to honor his words given to the captain!"

"I understand," she said without her smile disappearing, "But whenever you get tired of that ridiculous captain of yours, my offer will still be standing! If you really want to know what living is like and feel some real excitement and know what a real family is about, then come join my guild!"

"The champion will remember that! Thank you!" he said before turning towards Kasra with another large grin while managing to pose for him, "And I shall be looking forward to a rematch with you! You shall know the champion's true glory one day!"

"And I will very much be looking forward to it," Kasra answered with a devilish smile.

"So with that, the champion bids you a fond farewell!" Atlas shouted, striking a new pose as lights began to flicker all around him once again and heavy music began to play in the background, "And remember to make all your opponents marvel at your wondrous strength! Show them the true fighting of a champion! And have them all meet their failure at the end of your almighty fists!" he said before fireworks shot up from behind him.

Cordelia smiled in appreciation, "He'll be a wonderful asset to the guild."

"So you already know that he will be joining then?" Kasra asked, looking down at the woman.

"Of course! He's perfect! He truly has a heart of gold and I refuse to see that go to waste in some shitty pirate crew!" she said as she turned to fully face Kasra with a knowing look in her eyes, "And you seem quite taken with him. I haven't seen you smile like that since Kiernan," she said, knowing it would have the man tensing up slightly. She continued once he had relaxed again, "You deserve happiness too, Kasra. As much as you give me trouble, I still want you to be happy. I think Atlas might be that happiness for you."

Kasra stared down at her in silence, vaguely hearing the fireworks and music in the background. He wore a straight face for a long moment before a warm expression crossed his face, "You are quite the lovely guild master, Miss Murdock."

Cordelia responded with her own warm smile as the two turned back to finish watching the fireworks show.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Just a quick note today since I'm actually updating this at work on my break and I don't have a lot of time right now. But I immensely enjoyed this chapter for many, many reasons! And I probably would have had it up last night, but…well…I was drinking a bottle of wine while I was writing and yeah…I eventually fell asleep towards the end of it, haha! But I do think the wine helped me with Bahir in this chapter quite a bit! So if he seemed even more…well…ya know, lol…then that's probably where it came from. But I really enjoyed that ending a lot too! So I hope you all liked it too!

And as always, your reviews are appreciated, liked, loved, enjoyed immensely, and all the other lovely compliments that I could give in between! You all are just so wonderful as always and I'm glad you all are enjoying reading this story!

And with this chapter, that makes it four characters for Storm's Helm and one team for Thunder Stone! CHA! Oh! And speaking of XLil MEkoX here, I would like to thank them for their help in the clue we just finished and the new one we just got in this chapter! They sent over a couple of clues a while back and they greatly helped me in moving things along, so I just wanted to say thank you again!

That should be it for this time around.

I'm hoping to have at least one more chapter for this story up, but we'll see how things go!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	39. The Tsar Weapons

**A/N: **And I'm back with a new chapter! CHA!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 39: The Tsar Weapons**

**April 16, X792 - Evening**

The sailing guild had been on course for the next island of Pluvia, Matilda stating that they should reach it by morning at the latest since they had been on the far end of Tonituri. But Cordelia didn't seem to mind it so much since it would give her mages a night of rest along with allowing her to get some business done on the guild.

She was currently heading towards her first stop of the night - Vi's workshop. She was making her way through the maze of stairs and narrow hallways, hoping that Vi had been able to fully repair her Tsar Cannon. She was also thankful that she had been able to slip away from everyone for the moment or else Vi would have to deal with a herd of people following her into the workshop, which the crafter was never too pleased about. More people only meant more nuisances getting in the way of her work, and while Vi didn't consider Cordelia a nuisance, she did put many of the people Cordelia hung around in that category. So it was always much easier if Cordelia managed to slip into the workshop by herself. So she grinned over her own ninja skills when she came to stand in front of the open doorway that led into Vi's place.

Cordelia peeked her head inside first to see if the woman was in the first section of her shop. Though, there was no one in sight as she fully stepped into the place, but she could see light coming from the back room that she did most of her work in and she could heard tools being clanked around as well. After glancing around at some of the work hanging in the first section of the shop, Cordelia made her way towards the back room, figuring that Vi wouldn't mind her dropping in.

As soon as Cordelia stepped into the back room, her eyes grew wide at the sight before her. There sat her Tsar Cannon in pristine condition as if it had just been completed for the first time. It shined and sparkled in the lighting of the room, looming over Cordelia as if the weapon carried a confidence all of its own. Sparkles ignited in Cordelia's eyes as excitement flooded through her. She threw her hands outwards as she ran towards it, not being able to take it anymore.

"My baby!" she shouted as she jumped on top of it and hugged it, "You're looking better than ever! I knew Auntie Vi would take good care of you!"

Vi appeared in front of the cannon, letting a small, crooked smile appear on her face as she watched her guild master gush over the weapon, "So you like the repairs then?"

Cordelia's head popped up from nuzzling the weapon to smile down at Vi. She then jumped off of the cannon to land in front of the crafter and hugged her tightly, "Like them? I love them!" she said before letting go of the woman to motion back towards the cannon, "It's perfect, Vi! No! Better than perfect! It's…it's…it's my baby as she was meant to be!" she said, beginning to tear up a little, "You're the best crafter ever! What would I do without you?!"

Vi let her smile stay on her lips a few moments longer as she patted Cordelia on the head, "I enjoy how much you appreciate my work," she said, "Just try not to let Bern get near it again. It took a lot of work to get this thing back in working order. It was made a while ago, you know. Things like this are hard to come by and even harder to repair without the proper knowledge of how they were built or the materials used to build them."

"I know," Cordelia smiled, "I did a lot of research on this cannon and the three other weapons to complete the set."

"A set?"

"Yep. A lot of people didn't believe the Tsar Weapons existed and they thought I was crazy for trying to look for them," Cordelia explained, staring up at the cannon with pride, "As you said, they were made a long time ago. They must have disappeared or were hidden away at some point and after a while, people forgot about them. So many years passed that they became something of a legend rather than actual weapons. But when I read about them in a book, I was fascinated by them, so I began trying to find more and more information about them. Isaak helped me a lot with that part," she smiled again, remembering all the late nights staying up and reading about the weapons, "But one piece of information eventually led to another and then another until I finally realized that there just couldn't be so much lore on them without them being real. So I made it my goal to set out and find all four weapons."

"I see," Vi said, "So there's the cannon. Then what are the other three?"

"The Tsar Pistols, the Tsar Sniper Rifle and the Tsar Bomb," Cordelia answered, "I don't care how long it'll take me, but I'm going to find them all. I found the Tsar Cannon, which proves that the other three are out there somewhere. Although," she said, laughing a little at remembering all the trouble she and Eli went through to get the cannon, "We might have to stay out of the northern waters for a while. I may or may not have pissed off the leader of the pirates in the north. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me in the ass."

Vi felt a sweat drop roll down the side of her head at Cordelia's last comment, knowing just how easily she could get into trouble.

"But anyways," the guild master continued, "Thank you very much for fixing her."

"Aye, you're welcome," Vi nodded at her as Cordelia recalled the cannon back into her re-quip space, "Oh, and I made you three extra shots for it too," she said, pointing to three huge cannonballs lined up on the back wall.

Cordelia's eyes went even wider at the sight of the extra ammo, "You really are the best, Vi!"

"I thought you might like some replacements for the ones you've already used," she said, "And also, now that I know there are other weapons to the set, you can bring the weapons to me once you collect them. That way I can check out if they use specific ammo or not. If there are specially made bullets or whatnot, I can study over them and learn how to make them."

"I will do just that once I find the other weapons!" Cordelia said as she began to recall the cannonballs as well, "Also, Vi," she began in a much more serious tone, instantly catching the crafter's attention, "When the final battle comes between us and the Black Skulls, I want you manning the cannons across the guild. If something happens to them, then you can repair them during battle, at least enough to keep them in working order. And also because I know you can aim well too. I know some people think you can't, but you make weapons for a living. It would be weird if you didn't know how to shoot them properly. So I'm leaving the long range fighting in your hands. Will you be okay with that?"

Vi was quiet for a moment as she thought about what Cordelia was asking of her. There weren't many people that asked her for things like Cordelia did, that believed she could do things like Cordelia did. She knew this was mostly due to keeping to herself on the guild, but that didn't mean she was incapable of things. Her crooked smile returned to her face, truly happy that her guild master appreciated her and relied on her like she did.

"Aye," was all the woman said, but it seemed to be enough from the smile that Cordelia beamed back at her.

"Glad to hear it," Cordelia said, turning to leave the workshop, "I'll leave you to continue your work then, but if you want to give yourself a break, even just a short one, come up on deck and find me. I'll buy you a drink for everything you've done for me."

Vi simply nodded at her before turning back to her work table for the night.

**. : + : .**

Cordelia had made her way back to the top deck of the middle vessel, smiling at the sight of her mages laughing and drinking and partying for the night. It was a sight she had truly missed in the past couple of weeks, so it was good to see everyone in high spirits. Though, she easily spotted one woman who didn't seem to be in high spirits like the rest of the guild up by one of the bars.

She moved smoothly through the crowd until she came up to the bar where the woman sat. She kept quiet as she moved to stand right next to the barstool she sat on, leaning back against the bar with her elbows. She stayed that way for a moment, the woman not even noticing her until the bartender began to speak.

"The usual, Cordelia?"

Cordelia nodded at the man with a smile, watching the woman next to her jump in surprise of having someone standing right next to her with her notice. Cordelia waited to speak until a glass of whiskey was sat down near her. She nodded her thanks to the bartender before smiling over that the woman and turning to take her own seat on a barstool.

"I'm surprised you aren't sitting with Aria and Alisa, Zipporah," Cordelia finally said after taking a drink, "You're kinda wasting a good night sitting up here by yourself."

The redhead had managed to pull her gaze away from Cordelia and back down into her own drink, "It does seem like a waste, doesn't it?"

"And I'm even more surprised you didn't notice me when I moved next to you," Cordelia continued, "You're usually more aware than that."

"Must be the drink then."

"I don't think it is."

Zipporah sat quietly for a moment, the sounds of people partying going on around them. She eventually let out a heavy sigh, "No, it's not the drink."

"It's that prick of a captain, isn't it?"

"Yes. I had been hoping it would be much longer before someone from home caught wind of where I was. I was actually hoping they never would."

"So, you're from a noble home then?"

"Yes, but I don't like to go around telling people that. I don't want to make it seem like I'm better than anyone else here. And I don't want rumors spreading in order to keep my location secret from my parents."

"Were they bad parents?"

"No, not really, but they wanted to choose a lot of things for me and expected me to be a certain way. I suppose I didn't mind some of it, but being forced to marry someone wasn't on my to do list. I didn't want an arranged marriage, but no one would listen to me, so I left home without telling anyone," Zipporah explained, "But now Desmond has found me. I had no idea he had become a captain, so I never really worried about him finding me. But now he has and I'm afraid he'll make me go home. I don't want to leave the guild now that I finally feel like I found a place where I belong where I have friends and found someone I like on my own," she said, squeezing her glass harder and harder the more she spoke, "How can I go home before I'm able to tell and show them all what they mean to me and what I think of them?"

Cordelia sat in silence, sipping at her drink as she thought over what the redhead was telling her. Once she was sure Zipporah had said her piece, she sat down her glass, "Well, it's not like any of this is really my business, but the answer seems pretty easy to me," she said, waiting for Zipporah to look back at her before she finished her statement, "You don't go home."

Zipporah stared at her guild master in surprise. She hadn't expected an answer like that. She thought she might get an answer to go fix her problems with her parents and to face whatever she had to face at home, but there Cordelia was telling her to pretty much disregard whatever her family wanted of her.

"I'm not saying to never fix whatever issues you have with your parents. Because you should at some point, but that point doesn't have to be right now. It doesn't even have to be a year from now. It could be twenty years down the road if you really wanted to. It's up to you to decide when you're ready to go speak with your parents," Cordelia said before she sent a smile at the redhead, "But you are a mage of Storm's Helm, so there's nothing here forcing you to marry anyone or to go home. In fact, after today it seems that you have people here that are willing to fight marine captains to keep you around," she said, laying a hand on Zipporah's shoulder, "I want you here on my guild, Zipporah, and I will do whatever it takes to make sure you aren't forced to go home earlier than you want to. No matter what Desmond does or your parents do to get you to leave, I will make sure you keep your freedom. You wanted to make your own decisions bad enough that you left home to step into a world that wasn't your own and you survived and adapted and made a name for yourself as a mage. I say that's pretty damn admirable and I'd be willing to protect what you've done for yourself."

Zipporah could only stare at Cordelia in shocked silence, almost disbelieving what she was hearing. She even almost started crying at what Cordelia was telling her, but she managed to hold them back, causing her eyes to have a glossy appearance at the moment.

"So smile and laugh and drink with your friends instead of sitting over here by yourself," Cordelia said as she turned the redhead around to face the table that Aria and Alisa were sitting at, the two women wearing worried faces, "They've been staring over here like that the entire time we've been here. They're worried about you, so you should go reassure them that you won't be leaving any time soon."

Zipporah nodded with a smile as she wiped a hand across her eyes, "Thank you, Cordelia," she said with a small bow.

"Don't worry about it. And don't bow to me," Cordelia said, waving her off, "Just remember that you will always be a mage of Storm's Helm. Oh! And make sure to tell whoever you like that you actually like them. God knows I know how annoying that can be. Trust me, you don't want to end up in my situation."

"Your situation?"

"That is not of import!" Cordelia answered quickly, "Just make sure you tell them one day."

"I will," Zipporah said, laughing at Cordelia's reaction, "Thank you again!" she said before running towards the table that Aria and Alisa sat at with a happy smile.

Cordelia watched over the young woman a moment longer before turning back around in her seat. She had been aimed to grab her drink again, but her eyes soon came into contact with a pair of bright blue ones directly in front of her.

"Angel!"

Cordelia let out a yelp of surprise upon hearing the shout, falling backwards off of the stool.

"Gotcha!" Seth said, managing to grab hold of her before she fell flat across the deck.

"Thanks," she said after she was back on her feet. She then turned a glare on the man that had scared her, "Isaak!" she snapped as she bonked him on the head, "Why do you still continue to do that?!"

"Because your reaction is too cute! I get you every time!"

Cordelia felt her eye twitch in annoyance as a faint blush appeared across her cheeks while she mumbled something akin to 'stupid boys'.

"I told you not to do that, four eyes!" Eli shouted, getting right up in Isaak's face.

"Who's going to stop me? You?" Isaak retorted with a laugh, "Like that'll ever happen."

"Do we get to watch a fight? Do we?" Gamu asked, having appeared on top of Seth's shoulder.

"That probably wouldn't be wise," Seth said with a smile, "But it'd sure be entertaining to watch. But I think my money's on Isaak."

"Same," Gamu said.

"What?!" Eli shouted, looking over at the two men, "What the hell?! I'm supposed to be your best friend here!"

"Yeah, but Isaak is definitely smarter than you," Seth chuckled.

"Smart. Smart. Way smarter," Gamu chimed in.

"See? They can admit it, so why can't you?" Isaak asked, his smirk still in place.

Eli let out a shout of anger as red flames began to lick off of his skin.

Though, all four of them were quickly silenced as a bucket of ice cold water was thrown across them. They looked to see an aggravated Cordelia glaring at them while Zinnia was behind her laughing.

"You're all stupid boys!" Cordelia shouted before turning away from them with a huff and dragging Zinnia along with her.

"Looks like you all got an early taste of what Pluvia will be like!" Zinnia said before laughing at their drenched appearances, "Better get used to it now!"

"Shut up, Zi!"

Though, all their shouting managed to do was to reignite Cordelia's anger and have her turning on her heel to engage all four men in a wrestling match, with, of course, the guild master winning at the end of the night.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Ok, so yes, I know I disappeared for a while. And thank you to all of you that checked in on me during that time. Nothing bad was really going on personally, as things are good in the real world, lol. But I just fell into a really bad slump for a long while that kept me from writing not only Storm's Helm, but all of my stories. I can't say for sure why it happened, but things like that do happen to me from time to time. But it doesn't mean that I'm giving up on my stories or anything as I do plan to continue them. So sorry that it's taken a while, but things seem to once again be moving and you should once again see regular updates to my stories. There will also be a tentative schedule on my profile for when my stories will be updated.

Now then, I know this chapter was a bit short and not much action happened, but longer chapters should start coming out again. I just needed to get through the things that happened in this chapter for reasons and I also needed to get used to writing the characters again. So things should start to pick up after this chapter with finishing out the treasure hunt and everything.

Due to time restraints from being at work and because I am getting back into the swing of things, this author's note will be fairly short. But I do thank and love all of you for your reviews! They were awesome as always and I always look forward to seeing them! :3 Honestly, I couldn't ask for better readers!

So then, I will eventually get back into the review responses and Storm's Helm Question Corner as I enjoy doing both. So! With that being said, if you have new questions or have questions that haven't been answered yet, please send them to me as I might have lost them by now…Mostly, it would be easier for me to start up the question corner again if you PM me the questions so I can know for sure that I have them. I would appreciate it!

I think that should be it for now.

I'll have the next chapter up soon! And it should also have a couple new Black Skull members in it!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	40. Fool

**Chapter 40: Fool**

**April 17, X792 – Early Morning**

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Madmartigan stood at the front of his ship, holding his hands behind his back as he stared down a barely visible dot in the distance. The dark gray sky and the pouring rain off in the distance made it harder to see what he was staring at, but he knew it was there. He knew the ships that formed what had been the bane of his existence since the start of the hunt were there. He squeezed his hands tightly while his teeth gnashed together upon picturing Cordelia Murdock's smiling face. He let out a low growl when he pictured her waving Blackstroker's map in his face. His mind had become obsessed with taking out Cordelia and her guild. It was no longer just about getting the map back. Now he had to take her down and turn her into a warning for anyone else that thought they could take something from him. The world must have forgotten what he had done to Barracuda, but he would make them remember who he was and what he was capable of. And he would start with that little guild master who forgot her place.

"Sir," Mingo called out.

Madmartigan turned slightly to look at him over his shoulder, seeing the large black eye that the blonde now sported. It was a light punishment compared to what he had given Swabbie. He couldn't have his first mate held up below deck with their healer for days. And it was light in comparison for what he had gotten it for. Daniel had, of course, spilled the beans on what Mingo and Swabbie had done by letting Zinnia go and Madmartigan had been aware of Mingo taking it easy on the guild by sending out Atlas after them. So he had no choice but to make an example out of the two for the rest of his crew.

"What is it?" the captain snapped.

"So you're sending out Roberts and Rika?"

"I am. If you have a problem with that, you can just shut your mouth now. I will not be taking any advice from you for the time being."

"Then why even keep me as your first mate?" Mingo asked, his voice dropping a few octaves, "Why not replace me with Daniel?"

"Because Daniel is an idiot," he said bluntly, "He makes too many rash decisions."

"And you don't?"

Madmartigan turned on his heels and stormed right up on Mingo, his face furious as he stared him down with dark eyes, "It would be in your best interest to keep comments like those to yourself. Remember, you don't have any magic to defend with. Just those little needles you've created."

"I am aware of my own abilities, but I think you put too much confidence in your own," Mingo said, his voice unwavering. The two stared each other down for a long moment before he continued, "And if you're keeping me as your first mate, it must mean you put some stock into my advice, so hear what I have to say, Madmartigan."

The captain stood his ground for a moment longer before he finally took a step back from the blonde, "Speak and then leave me be."

"You should not go to war with Cordelia Murdock."

Madmartigan's stare only seemed to grow in ferocity upon hearing the statement. And for a brief moment, he thought that Mingo was joking, but the serious look on the man's face made it clear that he wasn't. Though, he stayed quiet to let the man finish speaking.

"Things won't go the way you think they will. She'll fight you every step of the way. And when it comes down to a final showdown between you two, I don't know if you can come out as the victor."

"So you're doubting your captain?!"

"I'm just being honest with you. You continue to underestimate her and she's going to take advantage of that. And not to mention that we're not in southern waters. She has the advantage of having Burningham on her side and possibly even Bern Eversaw and his fleet of naval forces for western waters," Mingo explained, seeing a slight realization light up in his captain's eyes, "You know the navy has been after us for years and Burningham hates you. Do you really want three large forces possibly coming after us? Do you really think we'll win against that?"

"I took out Barracuda on my own!"

"That was twenty-five years ago. Things have changed. Powers have shifted. Even in our home waters in the south, we could still be at a disadvantage because you chose to cut yourself off from the Libertatia Pact. Do you really think Maurus would come to our aid?"

Madmartigan let out a growl at the mention of the southern pirate lord, "Spiro would do it since it would be in his best interest as well."

"Maurus Spiro isn't a stupid or rash man and he sure as hell doesn't trust you in the slightest. It's only because I've managed to get into his good graces that he hasn't come after you himself," Mingo said, now glaring at Madmartigan, "And what would he gain out of attacking Storm's Helm? He'd break the pact agreement by coming into western waters to wage war and against an ally of the western pirate lord no less. That'd have Burningham on him in an instant and we all know that Burningham's forces are larger than Spiro's. Then there's also the fact that he'd be attacking a Murdock. And if you'd remember your history correctly, Murdocks used to be pirates too and some still are. Hell, if Dylan Murdock hadn't created Storm's Helm in place of giving up piracy, then a Murdock would be a pirate lord now. If a family member outside of the guild heard that Maurus killed one of their own, what do you think would happen then? All hell would break loose and you'd be at the center of it all. All because you don't know how to leave well enough alone!"

Madmartigan kept quiet after Mingo's explanation, but anger was bubbling just under the surface of the captain.

"It's better for everyone if you stop this ridiculous chase now. Let Cordelia have the map and finish the hunt in peace. Blackstroker has several other maps out there and I know at least one of them is based in southern waters. We can find another one and get that treasure instead."

"The treasure is no longer the point!" Madmartigan finally snapped, "It is the principal of the matter! I can't simply let her go now after all she has done against me! What will that prove to the rest of the crew?!"

"That you know when to step away! When to not get them killed for selfish, petty reasons!"

"I refuse to back down now! I didn't back down against Duke Ramirez twenty-five years ago, and I sure as hell ain't doing it now with Cordelia Murdock! I am waging war with her and that's final!"

The two men were quiet for a long moment as their stare down continued.

"If you go to war," Mingo began, his tone low and angry, "Then you'll be losing more than just an arm from it."

"If I lose another arm or leg or an eye, I don't care! I've made my orders and we are not wavering from them!"

"I'm not talking about body parts. I'm talking about men."

"You're threatening to leave the crew?!"

"You go to war, then I can't guarantee that I'll fight on your side or that a mutiny won't happen after it…if you're still alive, that is."

Madmartigan was taken aback by Mingo's answer, completely unsure of how to respond to him. Anger and fury built up within him, his face turning red because of it. Finally, he let out a roar of, "Leave!" as he turned his back to him, "War is my order!"

Mingo watched the captain for a moment longer, "Fool," was all he mumbled before walking away.

Madmartigan stared back out at the dot in the distance again, his anger and rage still spilling over. He let out another roar of fury and moved his arm back as rain began to pelt down on him. He slammed his arm forward and punched straight through the wood in front of him, chunks of wood flying up and over him. A large hole was left behind while Madmartigan was panting heavily from the outburst. He lifted his head back up, water dripping from his hat and causing his loose hair to stick to his face. His dark eyes were fixed on the guild with a deep glare in them, "I am no fool," he said darkly, "I will kill you, Cordelia Murdock. War is coming."

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you enjoyed it!

So while this chapter was short, it definitely had its important parts, especially with the mini history/fact lesson we got from Mingo. Plus, I wanted to show off how well (or not well) Madmartigan was handling things.

Though, because of its shortness, you all will probably be getting another chapter here really soon since I've been in a huge pirate kick lately. And so much inspiration and planning has hit me for this story that I'm really excited to get through the rest of this arc so we can move into the next one. And a bunch of history for the story has worked itself out too! I'm just so excited! So I hope you all are too. So be on the look out for another chapter here very soon! And the action should be starting up again with it! CHA!

Thank you all again for your wonderful reviews! I am always happy to read them! You really are all the best readers! :3

That's it for now! And again, be on the look out for another quick update after this!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	41. The Privateer and the Forest Queen

**A/N: **YAS! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 41: The Privateer and the Forest Queen**

**April 17, X792 – Early Morning**

The torrent of rain that fell around the island of Pluvia was a perfect cloaking shield for the slightly smaller ship that often times ran with the Black Skulls' main ship. It too was dark in color with the same pitch black sails as the main ship. This ship went by the name of Fury and belonged to one of the Black Skulls members. It had been brought along with him when he joined the crew and was now back in action due to its captain being called back from a mission he had previously been on. And that captain stood at the helm, carefully watching the large guild ahead of them to ensure they hadn't been spotted yet.

This man was known as D.P. Roberts, but was simply referred to as Roberts by the rest of the crew. Even though he was a shorter man, standing at 5'6" with a lean build, his brown eyes were sharp and cold. His short, blonde hair was slicked back in order to keep his vision clear. He wore black, loose fitting pants and shirt along with black, leather boots. A silver mask covered the lower half of his face with a black print of the Black Skulls symbol across it. And at his right hip hung a rapier.

"I am very surprised to hear that so many of our crew members have had so much trouble with this guild," a woman said, walking up from behind Roberts to stand on his right side.

He glanced down at her, the woman being just a couple inches shorter than himself. Though, she had a lovely, curvy frame with a modest bust. Her light green hair traveled down to her waist, but was tied into a ponytail. Her dark green eyes normally held a happy look in them, much like the man next to her, but because they were now on a mission, her eyes had changed to hold more of a coldness in them, the woman disliking the fact that many members of her crew had been hurt by the guild. She wore baggy, black pants that hung low on her waist along with a white, short sleeved t-shirt that ended just above her belly button. She also had on a black coat with sleeves that ended at her mid-forearms. Finally, her ears were pierced with emerald studs and she had a light blue, rose shaped marking on her stomach.

"Hmm," Roberts hummed in response, "It seems that our members have underestimated them."

"I suppose so. I never thought they were that stupid though," she said, stopping to think about what she had just said. A small sweat drop fell down her head as she laughed nervously, "Whoops. I didn't mean to sound rude. I'll have to apologize to them when we get back to the main ship."

"I honestly don't believe that you need to apologize, Rika," he said, "They are all stupid in their own right for failing so many times now. But things will be different this time," he explained, his gaze returning to the large guild in front of him, "We have the advantage of a surprise attack in this weather and with the Fury being much faster than both our main ship and the guild. Plus, we made sure not to come along empty handed as well," he finished, motioning out to the plethora of men working the ship, the men belonging to the Black Skulls crew as well, "We aren't taking any chances this time."

"And the weather is perfect for growing flowers," Rika said with a smile, "Don't you think?" she asked, looking up at Roberts with the same smile.

"Quite," he answered, creating an iced rose in his hand before crushing it quickly.

**. : + : .**

Cordelia currently sat down in her office, a cigarette held in between her thumb and forefinger. She smirked at it, "We're getting close to finishing, Van Black. You better keep up your end of the promise. I want those revolvers," she said, "But I also hope you know that I'm gonna pop your gramps straight in the nose for all the shit he's put me through," she added, her face taking on a flat look at the thought of Blackstroker and the fact that he was probably watching everything going on with the treasure hunt.

Though, it was at that moment that a large explosion went off, sounding like it was coming from the middle vessel. Cordelia's eye twitched at the sound of it, knowing a few of her members had to be doing something stupid. She put the cigarette safely back in her desk before moving to put her coat on and tuck the map away within it. She soon made her way onto the deck, sighing at the look on Sam's and Matilda's faces when she saw them standing outside of the navigation cabin. She then looked in the same direction as them to see a stream of smoke billowing upwards. Sam and Matilda gave her looks of sympathy as she began grumbling and making her way towards the middle ship.

It was on her way up onto the deck of the middle ship that Hagi and Mia appeared at the top of the bridge she was walking up. The three stopped and stared at each other for a long moment, Hagi and Mia both wearing nervous looks while Cordelia gave them an unamused stare. She then sighed again as she continued her walk up the metal bridge.

"Cordelia!" both Hagi and Mia called out, running down towards her in hopes of stopping her from going up on deck. They each grabbed onto an arm and attempted to drag her away, "How about you show us how close we are to Pluvia!"

Cordelia easily yanked her arms out of their grasp and pointed out towards the island, "You can see it from here," was all she said as she continued moving up the bridge.

Hagi and Mia exchanged nervous looks and followed after her slowly so as not to get involved with any reprimanding that was about to happen.

As soon as her feet stepped up onto the deck, Cordelia came to a sudden stop. Out across the middle of the deck were chunks of wood, most still burning from the explosion that had happened. There were also bits of metal, appearing as if they had previously been rings around barrels. And along with the smell of burning wood, a faint hint of beer wafted towards Cordelia, but it was quickly vanishing with the pouring rain. It looked as if it had been several barrels that had been involved in the explosion, the wasted contents having been furthered destroyed by the rain.

Cordelia stood there staring at it for a long moment, the pouring rain causing her hair to stick to her face and her clothes to her skin; but fire could been seen igniting in her eyes, the fire flaring as she moved her gaze past the debris and to the men that she knew had to be the culprits of the destruction. She began moving towards them, her steps steady and determined. People moved out of her way, nervous looks appearing on their faces at the sight of her, much like Hagi and Mia. She walked straight up to the two men standing in the middle of everything, the fact that they were both heavily muscled and towered over her not fazing her in the slightest. She stood just in front of them, crossing her arms as she listened to their argument.

"Call her a bitch one more time and I'll melt your head off!" Eli snapped, his body posed to throw a punch.

"I'd like to see you try. You can't do anything without an order from your fucking precious guild master," Gordon said, "And I might call her a bitch, but at least she can do things without being told to do them. You're just a damn mindless drone."

"I don't know how you're still a part of this guild, but I'm sure as hell gonna do everything in my power to get you kicked out of here!"

"Oi! I told you to fuck off in the first place, but you didn't listen! If anyone needs to leave, it's you! You're always causing fucking problems!"

"Me?! Who was it that screwed the guild for the last three years?!"

This caused Gordon to snap again and launch for Eli, the two men starting another fist fight, considering the bruises and blood that already covered their faces and hands. It was apparent that they had already been in a fight from their wounds and the destroyed barrels of beer.

Not wanting another fight to fully break out and having heard enough from the two men, Cordelia called out her Twin Pistols and aimed them both into the air. She quickly pulled the triggers, the loud noises bringing everything to a halt. The two men looked over at her in surprise, watching as she moved the pistols down to aim at them both.

"That's enough," she said lowly, "Back away from each other."

They did as they were told, both of them keeping their eyes on the guns pointed at them.

"Now, someone better tell me what the hell is going on."

"He started making comments about you, so I had to put him in his place!" Eli snapped.

"I didn't start making comments until you bumped into me and started accusing me of things!" Gordon retorted.

"You bumped into me!"

"Tch, whatever. I still told you to fuck off and you wouldn't leave me alone!"

Cordelia rolled her eyes with a sigh, "All right, all right. Stop it," she said, instantly silencing the two again, "I'm tired hearing this crap. I don't care who bumped into who or who said what. Just drop it and leave each other alone."

"But Cor, he called you a bitch!"

"Like I haven't heard that a thousand times from him," she said, giving Eli a flat stare, "Just leave it alone."

"So I'm just supposed to sit back and let people call you whatever they want?! Like hell I'll do that!"

"I said to leave it alone!" she finally shouted, bringing silence over the guild again, "I understand what you were trying to do Eli, but I don't really care what he calls me right now. I have other things to worry about besides someone's name calling. And now you've gone and wasted several barrels of beer because of this stupid fight," she sighed as she recalled her pistols, "You're both going to pay for them when we hit port after the treasure hunt is finished."

"But Cor!"

Cordelia simply turned away from him, not wanting to hear anymore about the situation. Though, she glanced around at the crowd around her, feeling like she shouldn't just leave things the way they were, "Also!" she began so everyone could hear her, "If I hear anyone else giving Gordon any more shit for his time as guild master, you're going to answer to me personally! I'm tired of hearing about it! I'm guild master now and that's all that matters, got it?!"

The crowd around her nodded in agreement.

"Good," she said, glancing back at Eli. She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment to make sure he got the message. He huffed in response, but made no further arguments about it. She then turned her gaze onto Gordon, her expression turning a bit softer. He caught her stare, and for a brief moment, Cordelia thought that he was just going to brush her off again, but he actually nodded at her before walking away from the area. She couldn't help the small flutter of happiness and accomplishment that came over her, feeling like she had made some progress with Gordon, even if it was very small. She was sure they'd continue to have differences and arguments in the future, but this was a tiny step forward for the two of them.

Before Eli or anyone else could get to Cordelia, Haruna came running up on her. She was currently holding Sho in her arms, considering how much the cat disliked water. He looked like quite the unhappy, wet furball sitting in Haruna's arms, wearing an unamused and irritated look on his face. Haruna, on the other hand, appeared to be unfazed by the pouring rain as she smiled up at Cordelia.

"Cordelia!" Haruna began in her usual chipper voice.

Cordelia could only smile in return, "How can I help you?"

"I think you need to come help Squall, ne Sho?" she said, looking down at the beanie wearing cat.

"Like I said before, I don't care what you do, but you could have left me in our room in this weather!" he shouted, struggling to get out of her arms to fly back to their room within the girls' dormitory.

"Haha, he's just a bit grumpy today," Haruna said, looking back up at Cordelia.

"I can see that," Cordelia said, laughing a bit herself at the wet cat, "But let's get back to the Squall business. What's going on?"

"She's up in one of the bird's nests as usual, but I don't think it's good for her to be up there while it's raining. What if she slips on something if she tries to climb back down?"

"Good point. Take me to her then, yeah?"

Haruna nodded in agreement and then headed towards the front of the guild to where the ship that held the supplies was. The two quickly made their way to the ship and Cordelia was surprised to see Seth already standing near the main mast of the ship that held the bird's nest right near the top.

"You're here too?" Cordelia asked once they were next to the large man.

"Aye," he said with a smile, "Haruna ran into me first and thought I could help out, but Squall doesn't seem to listen to me very well."

"I see," Cordelia said, her own smile appearing. She stared up at the bird's nest that held the young girl, trying to figure out a way to get her down. She then remembered the map within her coat pocket and that she still needed a group to go onto the island to finish solving it. She turned to Haruna with a wider smile, "Go and get Zhuue for me please, Haruna. Meet us back on the middle ship. I have a job for you, Squall and Zhuue."

"Yes ma'am!" she answered with a salute before running off towards the ship that held the infirmary.

"All right, now back to our current problem," Cordelia said, smiling back over at Seth.

"If you can get her down, I'll buy your drinks tonight," he said.

"You're on!" she said with a smirk, "OI! Squall!" she shouted up to the girl. She saw the slight movement of a body, but she never moved to look down at her. Cordelia tried a sharp and loud whistle next, but still no show of a face from the girl, "Hey! I know you can hear me! Get down here!"

Squall finally decided to stand up and peer over the edge of the bird's nest, looking between Cordelia and Seth with a bored stare.

"It's not safe up there while it's raining! What if you slip and fall?!"

Squall watched her for a moment longer before moving to pull one eyelid down and stick her tongue out at the woman.

Anger literally bristled across Cordelia while Seth began laughing loudly in response.

"Shut up you!" she hissed at Seth before setting her sights back on Squall, "Listen here, little girl! You better come down right now! Don't make me come up there and get you!" she yelled, only to receive another pulled down eyelid in response from the girl along with more laughter from Seth, "If you don't come down in the next five seconds, I'll make you wear shoes for the next week! And don't think you can hide from me either! I'll assign Gamu as your watchdog to make sure you wear them too! You know how he can randomly pop up anywhere!"

"Like here?!" Gamu suddenly called out, appearing on the bit of mast sticking out from the bird's nest. Squall jumped in surprise, having to tightly hold onto the railing of the bird's nest to keep from falling over while Cordelia and Seth stared up at the man, cocking their heads to one side at the sight of him.

"How did he even get up there?" Cordelia asked.

"I've been theorizing that he's part ninja lately," Seth answered.

"Seems legit," she said before coming back to the task at hand, "Looks like my point was made, Squall! So are you gonna come down or do I have to make good on my threat?!"

Squall glared down at Cordelia before looking back up at Gamu.

"Shoes! It'll be like a game! Let's play shoes!"

Squall made a face at his comments right before she jumped over the edge of the bird's nest. Cordelia easily caught her and placed her on her feet.

"I thought you'd see it my way," Cordelia said with a chuckle. Squall only glared at her more in response, "Aww, don't make that face. You just won me drinks for the night!" she said, bending down to Squall's level and began smooshing her cheeks, "Besides, I have a job for you if you're interested."

Squall batted her hands away and stood looking thoughtful for a moment. She then glanced back at Cordelia, silently telling her to proceed with explaining her what she needed.

"I need you to go onto Pluvia with Haruna and Zhuue to figure out the next clue for me," she said, taking out the map from her coat pocket, "I'm giving you the map to hold onto. Don't let go of it and don't give it up to anyone. It's very important that you do this. It would kinda make you the leader of the team too. Would you do that for me?"

Squall took a moment to weigh her options, moving her hands up and down as she thought it over. Soon enough though, she swiped the map out of Cordelia's hands and shoved it into her own pants pocket before sticking out her hand towards Cordelia.

"Glad we could come to an understanding," Cordelia said, shaking the girl's hand, "Now then, we need to head towards the middle ship to meet up with Haruna and Zhuue," she added, looking back towards Seth, "You stay and take care of that," she said, pointing up at Gamu, who was now twirling around on the mast, "Get him down before he fal-"

A heavy thud against the guild cut off Cordelia's words and had the group stumbling around on the deck. And as if to prove Cordelia correct, Gamu came flying down from the top of the mast to slam down on his back in between the trio, causing them to stare down at him.

"Round and round and round we go," Gamu sang, twirling a hand in the air, "Where we stop, nobody knows," he continued, his mind jumbled from the fall.

"Take care of him," Cordelia said to Seth before grabbing onto Squall and dragging her up towards the middle vessel. When the pair made it up onto the deck, people were scrambling around from whatever had hit the guild. Cordelia tried to call out to them to get them to calm down, but no one would listen to her. And soon she felt herself being pulled to the side of the chaos. She kept a tight grip on Squall, afraid to loose the girl in the mob of people running around.

"Cordelia!"

She instantly recognized the voice as Isaak's and was finally able to turn to face the silver haired man, "What's going on?!"

"An attack has been made on us."

"I kinda figured that, but from where?"

"There," he said pointing towards one of the long side ships. There she saw a dark ship with black sails rammed up against the side of the guild with hooks already digging into the guild to keep it connected. Men stared pouring out onto the decks of the guild with a man and a woman taking their time walking onto the guild.

Cordelia's eyes narrowed in on the man's silver mask with the black marking on it, "Black Skulls," she said, "Black Skulls!" she repeated louder, looking down at Squall, "We need to find Haruna and Zhuue and get you three onto the island!"

"This way!" Isaak said, pulling on Cordelia's arm again to lead them along with him through the crowd. He made it to one of the bars where Haruna and Zhuue were looking around worriedly before spotting the trio heading towards them.

"You made it!" Haruna called out.

"Yes, and you three need to get a move on," Cordelia said, pushing Squall towards the other two women, "Head onto the island and solve the riddle as quickly as possible and then head straight back here. We'll hold off the Black Skulls from following you, but still, be on the look out for any that might break through our defenses."

"What about getting onto the island?" Haruna asked, "We're not at port yet."

"I'm going to keep this fight away from the island if I can help it. I don't want people living on the island to get involved," she answered, "So either use your Nature Magic or Squall's Wind Magic to get you over to the island. We should be close enough for you all to do that. Okay?"

Haruna looked a bit nervous until Zhuue laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. The teen looked back up at Cordelia with a smile on her face now, "Yeah, okay! We'll make it onto the island!"

"Good girl," Cordelia said, "Now get moving you three," she added. Though, she grabbed onto Zhuue's arm for a moment before she got too far, "Take care of them."

Zhuue grabbed onto Cordelia's arm in return with a reassuring smile and nodded at her. She then turned and ran after the two younger girls.

Cordelia stared after them, a nagging, worried feeling pulling at her stomach, as if sending those three without some back up after them had been a bad idea. But she soon felt a comforting hand landing on her shoulder. She looked up to see Isaak next to her, the rain making his own hair stick to his face.

"They'll be okay for now. If things start looking bad or pirates get through us, then you can send someone after them," he said, "But we have to focus on the attack happening now on the guild."

Cordelia moved her gaze back to where the three girls had previously been standing, still feeling worried, but also knowing that Isaak was right. She took a deep breath and stood up straight as she called her Twin Pistols out, "You're right," she said, turning her back to the island in order to face down the pirates beginning to spread out across her guild, "You ready?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Of course, angel," he said with a smirk, pulling out a deck of Rune Cards to have at the ready, "Although, I'm sure I'll be knocking more of them out than you."

"Tch, we'll just see about that," she said as the two headed into battle.

* * *

**Storm's Helm Question Corner!**

Today's question comes from Origm2012 for Nanami:

**You seem fairly practical. In your mind, who is the strongest non S-Class mage?**

**Nanami: **That is actually a really good question. Let's see. Who to pick.

**Eli: **Oi! Come on! You know it's me!

**Watson: **Don't interrupt! Super rude!

**Nanami: **Watson-san is right. You are being quite rude in a question that is meant for me to answer. And besides, I am not choosing you, Eli-san.

**Eli: **What?! But you know I'm the strongest!

**Nanami: **Pure strength does not always mean you are the strongest.

**Eli: **What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

**Isaak: **It means that you're an idiot.

**Eli: **Oi! No one asked for your opinion, four eyes!

**Isaak: **Seriously, come up with better comebacks, char face.

**Watson: **Well, while they work out their bromance-

**Eli: **Like hell it's a bromance!

**Watson: **SUPER RUDE! *throws book at Eli* Why don't you give us your answer, Shiraki.

**Nanami: **I suppose one person would be Isaak-san, even if I did defeat him for his S-Class spot. I think another strong person would be Ace-kun, but he's a bit too laid back to go for the position. And then I also think that Kasra-san is a strong mage as well. All three have the potential to be S-Class in the future.

**Watson: **I like those choices too! Well done Shiraki!

**Isaak: ***throws an arm around both Nanami and Watson* How very kind of you ladies to choose me. Why don't I take you both out for a drink to thank you.

**Watson:** Ahaha…*blushes*…Sure! Let's go! *turns to readers* See you all in the next update!

**Eli: **OI! Why am I always being left behind?! Hey! Don't ignore me!

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all liked it!

**Credits**

**D.P. Roberts - mrady**

**Rika Shiren - Origm2012**

Whoo! I had a lot of fun with this chapter! And we're getting back into the action! CHA! I'm so excited! And Roberts and Rika are the last two Black Skulls members to be introduced as the rest of the crew members are basically 'faceless' members to fill numbers. So that means that we're definitely getting closer to the end of this arc! But it'll be fun seeing how this clue and its events turn out since there will be a lot going on with Roberts and Rika and some of the Storm's Helm members. GAH! It's so much fun!

Anyways, thank you all for your reviews even with the short chapter previously! I still quite liked that chapter, especially since it helped me work out a whole lot of stuff dealing with the history of the guild as well as the Murdock family. You all don't even know yet! Haha! But seriously, your reviews were awesome and made me smile as always!

I think that's it for this time around.

The next chapter should be up soon!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	42. Burning Sparrows

**A/N: **CHA! Welcome back to a new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 42: Burning Sparrows**

**April 17, X792 – Morning**

The constant downpour of rain made the decks slippery, but Cordelia and Isaak had no trouble standing their ground on the main ship of the guild while they stared down at the side ship that had been invaded. Cordelia kept her eyes focused on the man and woman that seemed to be the two in charge of the invasion. She also watched as her own mages were already on the scene to start dealing with the large amount of men that had boarded the ship along with the two pirates in charge. She wouldn't have to worry about any underlings for the time being.

"How are we going to deal with them?" Isaak asked, his own eyes fixed on the half-masked man. The dark brown eyes that stared up at them were cold and sharp, giving him the feeling that this man would be harder to deal with than many of the Black Skull members they had previously dealt with.

"I'm not sure yet," Cordelia answered, sharing Isaak's feelings as well, "We don't know what they can do yet, so I don't want to jump the gun."

It was then that John, Securus, and Vi appeared behind the pair, the trio each carrying large cannons with them. Cordelia and Isaak stared curiously at the weapons, wondering why they had been brought up on deck.

"I wanted to test out my targeting abilities with the cannons," Vi answered once all three cannons were in position, aiming down towards the ship attached to the guild, "I figured this would be a good opportunity to practice."

"I like your train of thought, Vi," Cordelia said with a smirk, "But first, I would appreciate it if you cut the hooks from the guild before you go shooting down the ship. I don't want the guild to get ripped up in the process."

"Aye," Vi answered, "I can do that myself before heading back up here to use the cannons, but some cover while I'm doing that would be appreciated."

"I got that covered," Securus answered, pulling his rifle from his back as he ignited his Hawk-Eye spell, causing his right eye to glow.

"Sounds good," Cordelia said, "Just keep an eye on the masked man and the woman next to him. I'm pretty sure they're in charge and we don't know what they can do yet."

The pair nodded as they all looked down towards the pair that Cordelia had pointed out. While most of the group seemed unaffected by the pirates, John's eyes widened upon seeing the blonde man aboard the guild.

"Dammit," John cursed lowly, causing the heads of everyone else to whip around and look at him.

Cordelia picked up on the look in John's eyes first, a frown appearing on her face, "You know one of them, don't you?"

John was quiet a moment longer as his eyes finally connected with the blonde, the man's eyes creasing upwards as he smiled briefly under his mask.

"Oi! John! I asked you a question!" Cordelia snapped.

John managed to pull himself away from the man below him to look at his guild master, "I do. The masked man down there is D. P. Roberts. I used to sail with him. He was a privateer when I joined his crew and he still was one when I left the crew," he said frowning as he looked back down at Roberts, "He must have joined the Black Skulls when the naval forces no longer needed him as a privateer. He always enjoyed his job more than he should have."

"I see," Cordelia said, "And what do you know about his abilities?"

"He's cold and ruthless when it comes to battles, so we'll need to be cautious with him," John answered, "He uses a magic called Brimefrost Make. It'll be a lot colder than regular ice, so I would advise to not let it touch you."

The group became silent after the explanation.

Eventually Securus looked back over at Vi with a smirk, "Still feel like going down there?"

"I already said I would," she said gruffly, "I'm not backing out now just because some pirate can make extra cold icicles."

Even with the knowledge of the man's magic and the lack of information on the woman next to him, Cordelia suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over her when she heard Securus and Vi speak. She didn't seem so worried about things now, not even when a bridge of ice connected with the ship they stood on. She looked down to see Roberts calmly walking up the iced bridge with the woman not too far behind him. She then looked back towards the group before her with a smile.

"Your orders are still the same," Cordelia said, "Take out the hooks from the guild and blow that ship away from us!"

"Aye!" Securus and Vi answered.

Cordelia then looked towards John and Isaak, "While they are working on that, we'll focus on taking care of Roberts and the woman with him. Will you be able to handle that, John?"

John watched as Roberts continued making his way up towards them before looking back at Cordelia, "Yes. This is my home and I will protect it even against those I called friends in the past."

"Glad to hear," Cordelia said as she raised her pistols up, aiming them up towards the bridge, "Let's get this started!" she announced, acting as a signal for Vi to start making her way down towards the ship below them on the normal metal bridge that connected their ships together. She ran the entire way down it with Securus acting as her cover as he took out any pirate that tried to stand in her way.

The other three kept their attention focused on the iced bridge, knowing that any moment the two pirates in charge would come up over it to stand before them. They didn't have to wait much longer as Roberts appeared before them, his hands clasped behind his back and the woman just behind him.

"This is quite the collection of ships you have here," Roberts said, "It will be a shame that we will have to sink them today."

"You're rather cocky coming onto my guild and declaring you'll destroy it," Cordelia said, her arms straight and steady while aiming her guns at the man, "None of your other crewmates have managed to do it."

"Ah, so you must be the guild master I have heard so much about from my captain," Roberts stated, "Well, let me tell you something, guild master," he said, his cold eyes fixed solely on Cordelia, "I am nothing like the men you have faced before."

"Tch, like I haven't heard that yet," she said.

"Oh, but I mean what I say," he said, his eyes gliding over towards John, "Just ask your crew member, John Morang. We have history, isn't that right, John?"

John was quiet for a moment as he studied Roberts, "Why go off and join the Black Skulls?" he finally asked.

"It should not be so surprising," Roberts said, "A privateer is merely a pirate with a legal document to be one. But once the war we were involved in ended, so did that document."

"Then why not retire or move onto more legitimate work?"

"And become like you?" Roberts asked, another brief smile appearing under his mask, "We were very much alike one time, John. I considered you a friend. You understood my love of the ocean and the freedom it brought me. So I would have hoped that you would understand why I am on my current path now."

"It's really no use explaining it to him," the woman said, "He clearly enjoys being tied down on this guild."

"Patience Rika," Roberts said, easily hushing the woman.

"I am not tied down to the guild," John said, a sad and darkened look appearing on his face, "I am tied down by my past sins. This guild allows me to atone for those sins. And I would have hoped that you would understand my own path, Roberts."

"It seems that our paths have diverged then. I am living for my freedom. And you are living for your atonement," Roberts said, frowning under his mask, "I do hope you know I will not take it easy on you just because we were once friends."

"I don't plan on going easy on you either. And I'll know if you're taking it easy on me."

"And I will know if you are as well," Roberts said, taking once last moment to glance at the three mages that stood before him, "Rika," he said sharply, the woman already knowing what to do when he said her name.

"Forest Queen Magic," Rika began, raising both hands up, "Flower Bed," she said as several seeds were created within the surrounding area. They instantly began to sprout, covering the area in grass and flowers, "Queen's Eye," she continued, a pulse of magic passing through the flower bed, but nothing further happened after that.

"The stage is set," Roberts said, "Now we can truly begin."

Cordelia, Isaak, and John all stared down at the now wet grass and flowers underneath them, all three feeling uncertain about it. There had to be a reason the woman had set it up and that second spell she used had done something. They knew that from the pulse of magic that had been released. For now, they would have to act on caution, especially with Roberts's magic added on top of Rika's.

Rika kept her place behind Roberts, the woman playing the supporting role for the moment, while Roberts finally unclasped his hands.

"Void Skip!" John said, wanting to get the first move in before Roberts had a chance to attack them.

"To your left!" Rika called out.

Roberts turned to his left just as John appeared before him. The man wasted no time in throwing a fist forward and jabbing it straight into John's gut, causing the man to wheeze in pain and surprise as he took a few steps back from Roberts.

"That will be the only warning shot you will receive," Roberts said, "As I said before," he said, looking from John back over towards Cordelia, "I am not like the other men that you have faced."

Cordelia eyed him hard before glancing up at Isaak, "This might be a little harder than we thought."

"Oh, come on angel," Isaak said, his usual smile still on his face, "We've been through worse, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose," she said, feeling some of her tension fade away, "I want to know how she knew where John was going though," she said, pointing at Rika.

"I'm curious as well," Isaak said, "It may have to do with that second spell she used."

"Probably," she said, a smile quickly forming, "You wanna test it out?"

"What do you have in mind?" Isaak asked, his own smile growing.

"Simon Says!" she shouted, causing John to sweat drop while Securus started laughing as he continued taking out people for Vi just outside of the flower bed area.

"Games at a time like this?" Securus asked, "Why didn't you become our guild master sooner, sweetheart?"

"You gotta find time for the little things, ya know?" Cordelia answered, "All right! Here we go!" she said, looking up at Isaak and nodding her head forward, "Simon says!"

"They're jumping forward!" Rika said just as Cordelia and Isaak took a leap forward.

Cordelia's and Isaak's eyes lit up when the woman predicted what they would do.

"Let's try another," Isaak said, looking to Cordelia as he twirled his finger in the air, "Simon says!"

"They're doing a spinning kick!" Rika said.

And just as she had predicted, the two mages spun and kicked together.

"So it seems she can predict our movements on this field," Isaak said.

"Interesting," Cordelia said, "Then let me try something out!"

She recalled one of her pistols in order to grab onto one of Isaak's shoulders to boost herself up into the air. She then planted herself firmly on top of Isaak, "Simon says!"

"He's moving forward!" Rika said, pointing out only Isaak's movements.

Cordelia smirked at this right before jumping off of Isaak's shoulders and landing in between Rika and Roberts, calling her second pistol back out to aim one at each of them, "Looks like I found a loophole!"

Both Roberts and Rika stared at the guild master with fury, hating that she had so easily countered the Queen's Eye spell.

"Brimefrost Make: Sparrows!"

"Bullet Seed!"

As soon as Roberts slammed down his fist into his palm, waves of iced sparrows began to fall down towards Cordelia while several tulip guns sprouted from the ground, aiming straight towards Cordelia as well.

The birds reached Cordelia first, the first few sliding across her skin as they fell. As soon as the ice touch her, she could feel it burning from the sheer coldness. She hissed as she retracted her arms, bringing down both guns away from the two pirates. She then watched through the rain of birds as the tulip guns began to move, looking as if they were about to shoot something at her.

"Shit!" she cursed, knowing she had to do something to move away from the area. She decided she'd rather deal with the iced birds than wait to be shot. She quickly somersaulted her way out from between Roberts and Rika just as the tulip guns went off, shooting out seed bullets where Cordelia has just been. The birds continued following her as she rolled back onto her feet and began making a run for it. The tulip guns followed her as well, but she had an easier time dodging them than the birds.

"Void Skip!"

Cordelia heard John's voice shouting behind her before he suddenly appeared next to her and grabbed her. He quickly did another Void Skip to get them farther from the birds, ending up directly behind Isaak.

"Rune Card Magic: Rune Shield!" Isaak said, holding up a hand of cards out in front of him. It quickly generated a magic shield just in time to block both the onslaught of birds and bullets.

"Let me see your arms!" John demanded, leaving no room for argument from Cordelia. She held out her arms to show several spots that were a slight bluish color from where the birds had touched her. And the spots were slowly darkening due to the coldness of the ice, "This is why I said to not let it touch you."

Cordelia let out another hiss of pain as the icy coldness continued to burn her skin, "Well considering there were a bunch of those damned things raining down on me, it's not like I could dodge them."

"You can't let it stay like this," John said, "You need to go to Jack."

"There's no way I'm leaving you!"

"Do you want to lose both your arms?!" John snapped, surprising both Cordelia and Isaak. Though, Cordelia didn't have an answer for him, "You need to get this fixed. Now. Unless you never want to use a gun again."

"But John," Cordelia started with a frown, "I can't just leave you up here by yourself."

"I can handle it," John said, "I know Roberts. I know how he fights."

"But you don't know how that woman fights. And she can predict your movements, even with your Void Skip."

It was that comment that made John falter momentarily. Cordelia did have a point there. It would be hard to fight Roberts with Rika as his support, but then Cordelia had found that loophole that he could now take advantage of. Still though, it was going to be tricky on his own since Securus was backing up Vi.

Though, it appeared that luck was on their side as Seth and Gamu came up onto the ship with Eli in tow, the fire mage having met up with Seth after the hit the guild had taken from the enemy ship.

"Looks like we don't have to leave him alone," Isaak pointed out.

Cordelia and John looked up to see the three men running towards them, relief quickly washing over them.

"What's going on?!" Eli asked as soon as they had reached them.

Cordelia let out another painful gasp as she pulled her arms back in towards herself.

"John can explain," Isaak said as he stepped up beside Cordelia, "She needs to get to Jack."

"I can take her," Eli said, staring down Isaak with heated eyes.

"I'm not dealing with your idiocy and ego today, Eli," Isaak snapped, "Stay here and help them. You can actually be of use here with your Fire Magic."

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Eli shouted, moving in to make a grab for Isaak.

"Prevention!" Isaak shouted, scattering cards around himself and Cordelia, creating magic barriers around them both. This stopped Eli from interfering while also continuing to protect them from any attacks that Roberts or Rika might try to make during their escape. Isaak didn't even bother giving Eli a last glance as he began ushering Cordelia towards the infirmary.

Eli tried to follow after them, especially when he saw Cordelia hugging herself in pain, but Seth quickly grabbed him.

"If Isaak says you're needed here, then listen to him for once," he said, frowning down at the fire mage.

"Fine," Eli huffed as he yanked his arm away from Seth, "So what's going on here then?" he asked, looking at John.

"Roberts and Rika," he said, pointing to each respectively, "Black Skull members. He has Brimefrost Make Magic while she has a nature based magic. Don't let his ice touch you unless you want to follow Cordelia to go see Jack. And so far, her magic allows her to detect our movements on this flower bed," he explained motioning towards the grassy area, "But Cordelia found a loophole. She can't detect anything that's not touching the covered area. So aerial attacks will probably work well here as well as your Fire Magic, Eli."

"Told you," Seth said, earning another huff from Eli.

Seth then took a moment to look over at the two pirates. He noticed that Roberts was studying them as well, probably wanting to get a feel for the change in players. His eyes quickly moved back towards the woman. He didn't think much of her at first until he noticed the blue rose shaped marking on her stomach.

'That marking!' he thought, knowing exactly what it meant. He quickly turned on John, "Was it Forest Queen Magic that she used?!"

"Yes…how did you know?" John answered.

"Okay, look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but we can't hurt her…at least not too much."

"What? Why not? She tried to kill Cordelia and she's going to try and kill us," John said.

"I know, but that marking on her stomach," Seth said, pointing at the rose marking, "That marks means she's the Flower Queen."

John, Eli, and Gamu exchanged glances, none of them having any idea of what that meant.

Seth let out a frustrated sigh, "That woman comes from the world of fairies. She's queen to the forest realm. That mark proves it."

"Then what is she doing here?" John asked, still feeling skeptical. He hadn't ever heard of the world of fairies and was beginning to wonder if the tattooed man had been out in the sun too long.

"I don know, but I do know that she doesn't belong here," he said, already knowing that John didn't believe him, "Look, I know it's hard to believe, but I know what I'm talking about."

"Just trust him on this one," Eli said when John looked over at him for answers.

"All right," John said, finally giving in, "Why don't you and Gamu focus on her," he said looking to Seth, "That'll leave Eli and I to deal with Roberts."

The other three nodded in agreement.

"Just remember to watch all of your surroundings," John added, "Just because you may be focused on one mage doesn't mean the other won't try to attack you as well."

"Are we ready to start again?" Roberts asked, "I do hope there won't be any further change ups."

"We're ready," John said as each pair of mages faced the pirate they would be up against, "But you won't be burning anyone this time with those birds."

"Sparrows," Roberts said calmly, creating another wave of the iced birds as he began walking towards John and Eli, "We shall see."

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Wow! It's been a little while, but I didn't realize how much I missed writing these characters until I started re-reading over the story again to get a feel for things once again. I've been working out a lot of things for this story, along with my other stories, and it finally got the wheels turning again for inspiration for this story. I never mean to leave for so long, but writer's block took root for a while, so I apologize for that. But it seems to have finally broken since I've been able to write a lot more lately. So I'm hoping the momentum will keep around for a while.

I do have another schedule for myself when it comes to writing and it is posted on my profile if you want to check it out. I will do my best to stick to it and so far it has helped me write a lot more, even if things get posted on a different day than I would like them to be. Still though, chapters for all stories have been coming out and a lot of inspiration has hit me for Storm's Helm as there are still a good many things I would like to get to in this story. It really is a lot of fun for me to write and I want to see it completed. So no worries on this story being given up on or anything.

With that being said, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter! I really enjoyed writing it myself and moving my way back into these characters! There should be a decent amount of action next chapter since that's when John and Roberts will really be going at it. So I'm excited for that! Plus, more on the clue next chapter as well! There should be anyways…

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Seriously, they really made me smile and I'm glad so many of you are still enjoying the story! From here on out though, I will be answering reviews through PMs as that makes it much easier for me. Though, any guest type reviews should still be answered here within my notes if any happen to pop up. But thanks again for your support! And I hope you continue to enjoy Storm's Helm!

So! I think that should be it for this time around!

See you all again soon in the next update!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	43. Secret Technique: Firing Squad

**A/N: **Yo! Welcome back to a new chapter (finally)!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 43: Secret Technique: Firing Squad**

**April 17, X792 – Morning**

"What happened to you?" Jack asked as Cordelia and Isaak came rushing into the infirmary.

"Can you ask after you fix me?!" Cordelia said.

Before Jack could retort with a snappy remark, Isaak intervened.

"Black Skull members raided the guild and we were fighting two of them. One of them has Brimefrost Make Magic, so like Ice Magic, but colder."

"Way fucking colder!" Cordelia shouted, "Can we please save the chitchat until after we save my arms from falling off here?!"

Jack kept quiet for a moment as he studied Cordelia's arms for a moment. He could see blue spots all over them, some of them so dark now they almost looked black.

"Jesus," Jack mumbled before he began digging through his supplies, "You're a very lucky woman that I have things prepared ahead of time," he said as he picked up a tray that held several different, small jars filled with varied red liquids. His hands hung over a dark red bottle before shaking his head and moved to grab a bright, almost glowing red liquid.

"What is that?" Isaak asked, watching Jack fill a syringe with the substance.

"I like to call it Liquid Lava," Jack answered as he moved back towards Cordelia. He then glanced up at Isaak, "You will need to hold her down for me. It's going to burn and I will need to put it in both arms."

"Hold her down? Are you sure it's safe?"

"Just fucking do it already!" Cordelia snapped, barely being able to contain herself with the icy patches spreading and growing colder with every passing second.

Isaak jumped at her command, moving to hold her in place from behind and gripping both of her arms tightly. Jack then wasted no time in sticking the first needle into her right arm. All three of them could see the bright liquid flow through her veins briefly before the new burning sensation set in and Cordelia let out a wail of pain. She tried to push Isaak off of her while Jack set to work on refilling the syringe for her left arm.

Isaak looked around the infirmary until his eyes landed on a wad of white towels sitting at the end of the bed nearest them. He quickly grabbed one and folded it as best he could with one hand and moved it towards Cordelia's mouth.

"Bite down on it," he said while struggling to keep her in place, "The last thing we need is you biting your tongue off during this."

"You have a hold of her?" Jack asked as he turned with a full syringe. Isaak nodded when both of his hands were tightly around her again, "All right then, here's the second dose."

He again wasted no time with sticking the needle into her left arm, the bright liquid appearing in her veins again before another wave of burning began. Cordelia let out another howl of pain, but it was muffled through the towel. Though, Isaak had made the right called with the towel, considering how hard she was currently biting down on it. She struggled against Isaak for a few more minutes before she finally started to calm down. Eventually, she spat the towel out of her mouth and slouched back into the rune mage. Her breath was ragged at first, Cordelia having to take a minute to regain her breath and composure.

"It worked then?" Isaak asked, watching as the blue splotches on Cordelia's arms began to fade away, looking like light bruising now.

"Seems so," Jack answered, "But it'll still hurt for a bit."

Cordelia lifted her right arm up, opening and closing her fist as she did so. While it still stung a bit, it was nothing compared to either of the burning sensations she had just gone through. And she still had use of her arms, so that was worth having to suffer through the Liquid Lava.

"Thanks," she finally said, still leaning back against Isaak.

Isaak moved her back towards the bed next to them and helped her to sit down while Jack picked up the used towel and threw it in a bin towards the back of the infirmary.

"So," the doctor said once he stood in front of the pair again, "What exactly happened?"

Isaak was the one to recount what happened before he and Cordelia showed up at the infirmary, the guild master busy with still opening and closing her fists to ensure they still worked.

"I see," Jack said, eyeing his supplies around the room. Though, his eyes soon glided over towards Cordelia, "And I'm assuming you already sent a group onto the island to figure out the clue?"

"Yeah," Cordelia answered, finally looking up from her hands, "I sent Zhuue, Haruna, and Squall," she said, watching Jack's eyes narrow slightly, "They'll be okay. The last I checked, no one was following them."

"Hmm," Jack hummed as he returned his sights back onto his supplies. He made a grab for a brown leather belt that held a few syringes and several tubes filled with different colored liquids. They were the most common concoctions for the man to use when going out into the field, having a variety of uses. He clicked the belt around his waist, pulling at it to make sure it was on tight before reaching out for a pair of twin blades. They were perfectly balanced and made of reinforced steel. The one held at his right side had a small red gem imbedded into it while the one on his left side had a matching blue gem.

"What are you doing?" Cordelia asked.

"Well," Jack said, turning once everything was in place, "The last time we assumed that no one would follow onto the island after people, someone ended up shot, didn't they?"

Cordelia flinched at the remark, the picture of a wounded Zinnia entering her mind.

"Look, no one could have predicted that," Isaak started, but was quickly cut off by Jack.

"I know that," Jack said, sending an apologetic look towards Cordelia. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but he honestly didn't want to end up with a similar situation happening and having another bullet wounded mage filling his infirmary, "But we have the knowledge now on the lengths the Black Skulls will take and I don't think that we should be taking things so lightly."

"So you don't trust that Zhuue and the others can handle it?" Isaak asked.

"I know what Zhuue is capable of. I don't doubt that she can handle herself," Jack said, keeping his voice cool and calm as he grabbed the jar filled with the Liquid Lava. He turned back towards the pair and placed the jar into Cordelia's hand, "I don't intend to go chasing after them. I'm simply going to ensure that no one else will be able to," he said, a smile playing at his lips as his and Cordelia's eye met briefly. She simply nodded as she took the jar from him, "Take that jar to Hagi. Explain to him the effects of that Brimefrost Magic. He'll know what to do after that with the potion."

The pair nodded again in response.

Jack gave them one last smile before exiting the infirmary and out into Pluvia's constant downpour.

**. : + : .**

"All this rain is getting a little ridiculous, ne Sho?" Haruna asked, looking down at the maroon cat in her arms. She couldn't see his face due to his beanie becoming so heavy with water that it had slipped down over his eyes and nose.

"This is why I told you to leave me in your room!" the little cat shouted.

"I wonder what kind of snacks Pluvia has," Haruna said, completely ignoring Sho's tantrum, "I mean, if it's always raining here, are they going to have specialized snacks to fit the weather?"

Zhuue and Squall wore faces of wonderment at that comment, both now trying to imagine snacks along with Haruna.

"Don't waste timing visualizing food!" Sho shouted, "We still need to figure out that clue!"

"Oh yeah," Haruna said, "We should probably get somewhere dry to read over it and try to figure it out. How about a café? They would have good food, ne? And you could even get some warm milk, Sho!"

Sho opened his mouth to argue with her again, but the Exceed quickly snapped it shut at the mention of warm milk. His eyes glazed over in happiness at the thought of it, "Onwards to food!" he shouted, stretching out a little maroon paw in the process. The other three women also lifted a fist into the air, all of them running off as if they were charging into battle.

It didn't take long for the group to find a place to get out of the rain. Pluvia had a rather large town on it that was filled with homes, shops, and restaurants. The group just assumed that people enjoyed the rain on the island and had simply grown accustomed to it. They found a café by the name of Maurice's and quickly ducked under the large awning of the shop to try and dry off a bit before entering the place.

"You know what to do, Squall!" Haruna said, throwing out her arms and holding onto Sho by the back of his vest.

"Wait a minute!" Sho shouted.

Though, before he could say anything further, Squall set to work on drying everyone off. Squall made a punching motion, sending out a burst of wind towards the pair. While it did the trick of drying them off, it caused Haruna's blue hair to turn into a wild mess of curls and for Sho to appear as a maroon puffball. The cat simply grumbled from beneath his mess of fur as Haruna moved them out of the way so Zhuue could be dried off next. The blonde came out appearing similar to Haruna, with her long hair sticking out in several directions. Squall then finished up the drying process on herself. Her black hair came out looking just as messy as usual, though a broken comb had popped out from her mass of curls during the process. Zhuue had caught the broken object while silently giggling, Squall blushing pink in the process.

The group then moved into the café, a burst of mocha and cake scents smacking them in the face. The place appeared rather cozy in colors of coffee brown and vanilla cream. Tables and booths filled the café along with a handful of people. Warm lamp lights and hanging lacrima bulbs covered in mocha shades illuminated the café as well. It was a complete change from the grays and blacks that covered the skies outside.

"Welcome!"

The group looked towards the front counter when they heard the voice calling out to them. There stood a young man with brown hair and eyes. His smile was pleasant and warm, easily matching the café he worked in.

"Hello!" Haruna chirped as the team moved towards the front counter.

"You must be tourists," he said.

"Yeah, something like that," Haruna said.

It was then that he eyed the guild marks on each of them, "Or I suppose the better term would be mages," he said, his smile never faltering, "We don't see many of you here on Pluvia. It's probably the rain," he said, seeming to think for a moment, "I believe the last time we saw a mage in here was a few years ago. Big guy, carried a staff, and smelled of cigars. He even smoked a few in here, much to the dismay of my mother," he explained, laughing at the memory, "But he seemed like a good guy."

Haruna and Squall exchanged looks, neither girl knowing who he has talking about. Though, Zhuue beamed at the mention of the man, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Huh? You know who he's talking about? That's interesting, ne Sho?" Haruna said.

"Yeah, that's great, but onto more important things!" Sho said, turning his serious blue-green eyes on the man behind the counter, "You! Tell me you have warm milk here!"

"You can call me M.J. if you would like a name," he said, his warm smile still plastered across his face, "And of course we do!"

"Give me your biggest bowl! And don't stop refilling it until I say so!"

"You don't need to be so rude, Sho," Haruna frowned down at the cat before looking back up at the man, "Sorry about that."

"No worries. I'm sure he'll be in a better mood once he has some milk," M.J. said, "What about the rest of you?"

"I'll take a caramel mocha!" Haruna answered quickly, "And a large piece of that cake!" she added, pointing towards a layered chocolate cake.

Squall was studying the menu before she finally pointed at a hot chocolate along with several different baked goods.

Zhuue quickly followed her, pointing at a green tea latte as well as several different flavored scones.

"Great!" the man said, not being at all bothered by Squall's and Zhuue's lack of speaking, "I'll get that all started for you. You can take a seat anywhere you like."

The team moved towards a large table while they waited, Squall peering around them for a moment before pulling out the map and smoothing it down across the table.

"So then!" Haruna began after she read over the clue, "It says this one is all about timing, but I think we need to figure out who these sisters are before we can figure out any sort of timing, ne Sho?"

"Seems right," he said with a nod, though the entire puffball that he was appeared to move instead of just his head.

"One gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first," Haruna repeated, scrunching her face up as she attempted to figure out the riddle.

Zhuue and Squall also sat thinking, unsure of what could be sisters while also giving life to each other. Though, it was when Zhuue was straightening out her hair that a thought dawned on her. She stared down at the blonde coloring of her hair for a long moment before her eyes slid over to Squall's dark black hair. Her green eyes zoomed back and forth between the two colors before she jumped out of her seat, practically jumping up and down.

"Did you think of something?" Haruna asked, laughing at the woman's antics.

Zhuue moved to stand next to Squall, laying a strand of her hair next to the younger girl's. The pale-yellow color popped and then faded into thick black. Zhuue pointed between the two colors as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

Haruna and Sho cocked their heads to the side, confused on what Zhuue was trying to tell them. Though, Squall seemed to pick up on it quickly, her eyes lighting up in realization as she looked up at Zhuue. The two began to rapidly make hand signs at each other, excited that they had figured out the clue.

"Whoa! You're both going too quickly!" Haruna said, attempting to keep up with their silent conversation, "What did you two come up with?"

Zhuue pointed to Squall first, the younger girl laying her head on her hands to pretend she was sleeping. Zhuue then pretended to be waking up before staring at Haruna expectantly. Though, Haruna and Sho continued to stare at them in confusion.

"Day and night," M.J. said as he came towards their table with their orders, "That's my guess anyways."

Squall and Zhuue jumped up and down excitedly as they pointed at the man.

"Day and night," Haruna repeated as she looked down at the map while Sho dug into the bowl of milk that was laid in front of him, "You're right! Sisters that give birth to each other! Day and night!" Haruna beamed, happy that they had solved the riddle…well, mostly anyways, "But what does that have to do with the map and Pluvia."

"That an easy one too," M.J. said after he had set down the last of their orders, "At the top of the large hill here in town is a monument for the sisters, Day and Night. They are the spirits that protect this island."

"Spirits? That's super cool, ne Sho?" Haruna said before taking a sip of her drink, "So are they the ones that make it rain so much here?"

"Yeah," M.J. answered, "They created a continuous rain hundreds of years ago to protect Pluvia against invaders. It's hard to recall exactly what was going on since it was so long ago, but they have continued with the rain since. Night's rain continues through the night, stopping at six in the morning when Day takes over with her rain. Her rain will continue until six in the evening when Night takes over again."

Squall was quick to start moving her hands in signs, silently asking the man a question.

Haruna watched her for a moment before nodding, "Does the rain ever stop then? Like when the sisters switch rains?"

"Yes, but it's only for about a minute. If you want to watch the switch up close and personal, you'll have to walk up to the hill before six tonight."

The team stared up at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was still late morning.

"I suppose you wouldn't mind putting up with us until then, ne M.J.?" Haruna asked.

"Of course not! I wouldn't mind hearing about your travels as mages in the meantime, if you don't mind."

"So long as you keep that warm milk coming, I'll tell you my deepest darkest secrets!" Sho announced, hiccupping from downing his milk so quickly.

The group laughed at the Exceed before settling in for the day, waiting out Day's rain.

**. : + : .**

Securus had made his way down the bridge that was connected with the ship that Vi was currently on. He had come to a stop halfway down the bridge, his Hawk-Eye still activated as he covered Vi. He hadn't been sure if they were aiming to kill. Cordelia never made mention if that was what they were doing this time around, so he did his best to simply put the men and women that had invaded their ship down by a bullet to the legs or arms. But things were becoming harder with that voice in his head.

"_For crying out loud! Just do it already! Shoot to kill!"_

Securus didn't answer the voice. He tried his best to ignore it and focus on protecting Vi.

"_And how do you expect to protect anyone if you do not kill them?! Do it!"_

Securus shook his head, trying to push the voice away. He had already portrayed to Cordelia that he would stay until the end of this treasure hunt. That he'd be able to handle things. That he could control the voice within him.

"_Control me?! Ahahahaha! Like you ever could!"_

"Shut up," Securus growled, gnashing his teeth together as he continued to only disable people rather than kill them.

"_Ah, but if you do not listen to me, the woman down there is going to pay for it."_

Securus looked over towards Vi, the woman working on the first chain that connected the Fury to the guild. Coming up around her was a large group of the Black Skull members, too many for her to be able to handle on her own. He watched Vi's face scrunch up as she pulled out a large hammer from her tool belt, the woman annoyed that she had been interrupted. She prepared herself for battle, even if she knew she wouldn't be able to fight them all off.

"_She will die and it will be all your fault! Unless you let me out! Just let me out for a minute! I will rip them all to shreds instantly!"_

Securus closed his eye now, attempting to fight the evil shouting in his head. He had to hold out. He just had to wound enough of them to allow Vi to survive.

"_Their lives do not matter! At least shoot them! If you will not let me out, then shoot them!"_

Securus felt himself breaking. He had been so confident going into this fight. He didn't think that it would be so hard backing someone up. Damn him for waiting so long to take a solo mission!

"_Shoot them! Kill them!"_

"VI!"

Securus heard someone shout the woman's name and he heard her grunt in pain as one of the men knocked her down. It was like all the other noise around him stopped and the sounds of Vi's fight was amplified. He could hear her shout as she swung her hammer. He could hear the crunch of bone underneath the metal. He could hear the slice of steel across flesh as another man swung his sword at Vi.

"VI! Oh my god!"

"_SHOOT THEM!"_

Securus felt his lips moving before he even thought about what he was doing, "Secret Technique!" he shouted, opening his eye again. It appeared brighter than ever, looking like molten gold, burning radiantly as it glared down at the men surround Vi, "Firing Squad!"

His body was moving on its own at top speed, disappearing and reappearing behind the man holding the sword that had cut across Vi's side. His finger pulled the trigger without hesitation, the bullet soaring right through the man's head.

Vi's eyes went wide as she watched the bullet travel through the man's head and soar straight passed the side of her head, the woman having no time to dodge the blood that followed, the bright red splattering across her face.

Securus wasted no time in continuing his movements, firing from all angles and killing the rest of the group around Vi, all of them falling at the same time. It almost appeared as if there was more than one man firing off bullets.

Securus then turned on the rest of the Black Skull members in the area. It wasn't enough. He had to have more. He wanted to lose himself in this killing spree, if only to alleviate himself of the ever-present evil in his mind. He had to consume enough to ease that voice. He had to see enough blood fly and bodies fall to make it to the end of the mission the guild was on. If he didn't, then the next time would be worse. The next time he could very well kill the people he wished to protect in his madness. He had to let himself crack now to ensure he wouldn't completely shatter later.

"…curus! Securus!"

Amid the bloodshed and the maniacal laughter filling his mind, Vi's voice broke through. Securus came to an instant stop, watching as the last body of the Black Skull members filling the ship they were on thunk onto the deck. He was breathing hard and blood stained his skin and clothes. The laughter in his head began to fade, but he was certain it would echo in his mind the rest of the day and long into the night.

"Jesus," Vi mumbled as she looked around at all the bodies that were littered across the deck, "Remind me to never get on your bad side," she said, realizing exactly why Securus was S-Class now, 'Lazy he might be, but this was definitely some next level shit,' she thought.

"You okay?" he asked lowly, doing his best to calm himself down while also trying to ignore all the eyes on him from other members looking down at him.

"Yeah. You finished with…whatever that was?"

"Yeah."

The two stood in silence for a long moment, each unsure of what to say to the other.

Finally, Vi cleared her throat, "Well then, help me get the hooks off the guild so we can blow this ship away," she said, turning back towards the metal hooks that she had previously been working on.

Securus took a deep breath, feeling thankful that Vi spoke to him without a note of terror or distrust in her voice. She spoke to him like a normal person, like he hadn't just slaughtered twenty people in front of her. She spoke to him like Cordelia had spoken to him the first time she ever witnessed him slip in front of her.

"Thanks," he said as he followed her.

Vi simply grunted in reply, not being one for sentimental moments, but at least wanting him to know that she acknowledged and understood what he was thanking her for. Everyone had their demons, so who was she to judge someone for them?

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

So I feel super lame for not updating for so long. So sorry about that. But the plan is to focus solely on this story for right now as it has practically consumed me with planning things to come and wanting to move forward with other arcs. So I will be focusing on updating this story at least through the end of the arc. Because dammit! I want to get to the next arc already!

That ending there got darker than I had originally expected it too, but I quite enjoyed it. I'm super pumped to get to Securus's solo mission in the next arc! It's gonna be freaking awesome! You have no idea!

Anyways, I hope I responded to all the reviews for the last chapter! If I didn't PM you about your review, I apologize! But I greatly appreciated them! They were awesome as always! And again, I will be reviewing them through PMs, with any guest reviews aside.

The Question Corner will be returning in the next chapter or two. I've had requests to continue it, so as always if you have any questions for the characters, you are more than welcome to send them in!

I think that should be it.

I should have the next chapter up much quicker since I'm solely focused on this story right now.

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	44. Blood Rage John

**A/N: **YAS! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 44: Blood Rage John**

**April 17, X792 – Morning**

What should have been a warm rain around Pluvia had quickly turned into icy droplets, the drop in temperature being due to the ice magic now filling the guild. People all around the guild had begun to shiver, but many of them pressed on through the cold to fight off the men and women that had invaded their home.

Though, there were four men that showed no signs that the cold even bothered them. They were all too focused on the two Black Skull members standing before them, a heated stare down having been going on. They hadn't noticed the temperature or the numerous fights going on around them or even what Securus had just done on the ship below them. It all came down to this first move. The first move would ignite everything and it would determine how the rest of the battle would play out. Careful choices had to be made and it appeared that all participants understood this.

And then all it took was a twitch of a muscle and all the pent-up tension was released in a wave of magic from all sides.

Roberts threw his arm forward, his iced sparrows bursting forward. The wave expanded across the area, the birds aimed to hit outside of the main battle area as well.

Eli was the first to approach the attack, his red flames igniting and rising into the air despite the pouring rain. The high temperature rolling off the man's body was enough to melt many of the icy birds, quickly catching Roberts' attention if the quirk of an eyebrow meant anything.

"You have caught my interest," Roberts said, looking straight at Eli, "But it seems that your fire was not enough to melt all of them," he added, motioning behind the group.

Eli and John looked behind them to see several of the birds had hit members of their guild, frozen blue blotches already forming on their skin. Eli whipped his head back around to glare at Roberts, his red fire growing in his anger.

"Red Fire's Inferno!" Eli shouted, punching both his fists forward to unleash a tornado of his fire upon Roberts.

"Brimefrost Make: Double Dome," Roberts said calmly as his magic encased him within two domes. Eli's fire easily melted the first dome and had managed to work its way through half of the second one. By the time the flames dispersed, a ring of ice was all that was left, pieces still melting and dripping around Roberts. Roberts' sharp brown eyes were fixed on Eli for a long moment, keeping the fire mage from seeing the icy path heading his way with the intense stare.

Roberts took a step forward, causing Eli's body to tense up and prepare for another attack. Though, he didn't even have the time to think of a spell let alone create one before Roberts was suddenly in front of him, the blonde man using the iced pathway to boost his speed. The ice mage had taken up his rapier, covering the blade in his burning ice and bringing it down upon Eli's neck. The only thing that stopped him from decapitating the fire mage was a blade being held at his own neck.

"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to make a move," Roberts said, knowing who the cutlass against his neck belonged to.

"I can't rush into battle, not against someone like you," John said, keeping a steady grip on his blade.

"Smart man," Roberts said, "But I hope you have not forgotten the full extent of my magic."

At that comment, ice began to cover John's sword, traveling up the blade at a rapid pace. John dropped the sword before the ice could touch his hand and quickly grabbed onto Roberts with the now empty hand. It would only take a matter of seconds before he finished bringing down his own sword on Eli's neck.

"Void Skip!" John said as soon as his hand came down on Roberts. The two blinked out of sight and reappeared a few good yards from Eli, allowing the fire mage to take in a breath of relief. John then let go of Roberts before the man had a chance to ice the area he was holding on to.

"What are you going to do now, John?" Roberts asked as he straightened out his clothes, "You no longer have your blade. And you cannot just keep skipping around me."

John only stared in response, trying to formulate a plan in his head for his next attack.

"What has become of you, John?" Roberts continued, a small smirk appearing under his mask, "You never hesitated so much like this when we worked together. Where is Privateer Morang? Where is Blood Rage John?"

John flinched at this question. He had hoped that Roberts would keep his mouth shut about that title and everything that came with it. Blood red filled his memories. The screams and tears amplified tenfold in his mind. Everything blurred together. All the fighting and killing. All the fires and destruction. And he had been right there in the thick of it. Had been the cause of all of it. And when his mind finally stopped spinning, all that was left was a bloodied, beautiful woman in his arms, staring blankly up at him.

"I thought that might spark something in you," Roberts said, his voice cutting and cold.

"You shut your mouth!" John snapped, his usually calm gray eyes turning into hard steel when they locked with man's in front of him.

"Ah, there we are. Those are the eyes I remember. Let us see if we can uncover more of the real you," Roberts said, "I wonder if your guild knows the real you. Have you told them about all the horrible things you have done? You talk of sins and atonement, but do they have any clue as to why you have those things weighing you down?"

"Shut up!" John shouted, falling more and more into his anger the longer the man spoke.

"Your reaction tells me you have not," Roberts said, "Shall I tell them for you? Shall I tell them how you gained the name Blood Rage John? It is such a wonderful tale full of destruction and tragedy, don't you think?"

John let out another shout as he created a new cutlass made of his Void Magic. The black blade shot forward to strike Roberts, but the man easily dodged it.

"Brimefrost Make: Stairs," he said as he flipped back onto the first step, "Sparrows," he added, creating another horde of icy birds just for good measure, "I know exactly how you fight, John. Even when you are angry like this," he said, jumping over another swipe of the magic blade, "And you cannot follow me up onto these stairs without burning yourself in the process," he added as he made his way further up the stairs.

John could only let out another roar of a shout as he poured more of his magic into his blade. It began to change and elongate until it had changed into a scythe. John normally liked to work with cutlasses or daggers, but there were times that a longer weapon worked better. He swung the black weapon forward, the blade cutting right into the thick ice of the stairs like they were butter. The black blade of the scythe seemed to suck out the magic infused in the stairs, causing the half he had cut through to melt away into a puddle and was washed away by the pouring rain around them.

"He might not be able to follow you," Eli said as he ran back onto the scene and jumped up onto the half of the stairs that were left. He slammed down onto the ice in a wave of red fire, the flames continuing to waft off him as he faced Roberts with a smirk, "But I can."

**. : + : .**

As soon as that twitch was made at the beginning of the battle, Seth wasted no time on igniting one of his tattoos, listening to the advice that John had given him about aerial attacks being the best to use against the woman before him.

"Chimera Shift: Eagle!" he said, the eagle wings tattoo on his back glowing brightly. Soon, a pair of large eagle wings expanded from his back, the rain simply rolling off of them when the golden-brown feathers were fully extended. He then looked down at Gamu, "You ready?"

"Ready," Gamu answered as he jumped up onto Seth's shoulders.

"Seems like you have a game plan already," Seth said with a smile.

"Cordelia was hurt," he said, "I've decided to fight."

"Good choice," Seth said, beginning to move his wings up and down as hard as he could, "Hope you don't mind heights."

"I like heights!" Gamu said with his own smile.

"Another good choice," he said as they finally lifted off the ground.

"Just because you aren't on my Flower Bed, doesn't mean I can't fight you," Rika said, staring up at them.

"I'd rather not fight you, really," Seth said, "You're an important figure in the fairy world. I think I'd get in trouble if I hurt you too much."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, "Fairy world? Were you drinking before this?"

"You must know. You have the mark of the Flower Queen."

"I am no queen. I am a member of the Black Skulls. That is all."

"But you are!" Seth retorted, already beginning to feel frustrated. He knew that mark. All in the fairy realm knew that mark. She was the Flower Queen and if she was here in the world of Earthland, then it must be causing problems in the fairy world. At least within the realm of the forest fairies. Without their queen to guide them and watch over them, they were surely lost and without protection. He was surprised he hadn't known of this problem before now, but he supposed it had been a while since he had spoken to anyone from the fairy world, "You are the Flower Queen!"

"I am not!" she shouted, as she began to slowly raise both of her arms. The ground behind her began to rumble, and once she had shot both of her arms up into the air, four large roses stood tall behind her, their stems full of large, thick thorns, "Thorn Shooter!" she said as the four roses began to spin rapidly and shoot off their thorns in all directions.

Seth watched as the thorns raced towards him, forcing him to fly up higher to dodge them. Though, it seemed that Gamu was less than impressed with this attack as he jumped off Seth's shoulders.

"Porcupine Armor!" he said, covering his entire body with needles. He spun a few times to help block the thorns a bit more, causing the thorns to bounce off him, "Quills!" he said, shooting the needles covering his right arm towards Rika.

"Bullet Seed!" Rika shouted, aiming her tulip guns at the onslaught of needs and thread. The seeds did the trick and knocked the needles off course.

Though, this didn't stop Gamu from pushing forward. He quickly shot off the needles on his left arm, the silver spines aiming right for Rika. They hit their mark this time, wrapping around Rika's right arm. Once they were tied tightly around her arm, Gamu pulled on the threads to pull himself down faster towards her. He retracted the needles around his feet and he slammed her down onto the flower bed, standing right on top of her stomach.

"Booster Shot," he said, creating more needles on his right hand. They came halfway out from his fingertips, Gamu moving his hand forward to lodge them into her neck.

"Gamu, wait!" Seth shouted. He hadn't expected the man to be so cutthroat about the fight. It seemed that the man really had decided to take this fight seriously and put all his focus on it. He let out a small sigh of relief when Gamu's hand stopped an inch away from Rika's neck.

Gamu looked up at Seth with a confused stare, "But she helped hurt Cordelia."

"I know," Seth said, "And I don't want her to get away with it, but she's a very confused woman. We can't kill her."

"The hell I'm confused!" Rika shouted, "Thorn Dagger!" she said, grabbing one of the thorns from the roses behind her with her free arm.

With Gamu looking up at Seth, he didn't see the attack coming until it was too late. She sliced across her, managing to cut across Gamu's chest. Blood spurted out and stained his tank top, causing the hold on her to loosen as he jumped back away from her and fell onto the slick grass of the flower bed. He pressed a hand onto his chest, but luckily it appeared that the wound wasn't too deep.

"I am not a queen! And fairies don't exist!"

Seth narrowed his eyes after she had wounded Gamu and with her denying the world she belonged to. He flew straight down at her just as she was picking herself back up and ridding herself of the thread around her arm. He would have to get over the fact that he couldn't hurt this woman for now. She obviously meant to hurt, even kill them, so he would have to rough her up enough until she would listen to him.

Rika's eyes widened as she watched Seth's large form flying right at her. He came to a sudden stop, the air that his wings created in the stop was enough to push Rika back down onto her butt and skid across her flower bed until she reached the very edge of it.

"You are a queen," Seth stated in a loud and steady tone, "But that title won't have me looking away when you hurt the people important to me. I want to help you, but not at the risk of the lives of the people around me."

"I don't need your help!" Rika said, "You clearly have the wrong person! I'll keep saying it! I'm not a queen! I'm a pirate!"

"A pirate," Seth repeated, frowning down at the scowling woman, "How can you not know what you are? Haven't you ever questioned your abilities? You can talk to the trees and plants and the forests themselves, right?"

Rika looked shocked for a moment, caught off guard that the man floating in front of her knew of her abilities.

"How do you know that?" she asked as she stood back up, her dagger still at the ready.

"Because I have seen the fairy world. I have spoken with the people that live there. I have learned how their world works. Each section of their world is ruled by kings and queens. And you belong to the forest realm. That rose marking on you is enough to prove it," he said, pointing to the blue marking on her stomach, "Where were you before the Black Skulls?"

"I…I…" Rika tried to answer him, but no words came out. She couldn't remember anything before the Black Skulls. She had always been with Madmartigan and his crew. Sure, she had questioned where she had come from, but there was nothing to do about it when she couldn't remember a single thing about her past. She just continued moving forward with her crewmates and had found her purpose in protecting them.

"And I guarantee that if your captain recognized that marking as well, that he only kept you around because of it."

Rika froze when he spoke those words. She couldn't believe them. She just couldn't. Madmartigan had taken her in and given her a home. It might not have been the nicest of homes, but it was still a home nonetheless. When she had nothing but her name and the clothes on her back, he took her in. He just couldn't be the type of man to use her to his advantage. The man in front of her had to be lying. He was lying about everything! Madmartigan had saved her!

"Liar!" she shouted as she jumped back to her feet and swung the dagger at him, "My captain is a good man! And there's no such thing as fairies! You're only telling me lies to take advantage of the fight! But I won't let that happen!"

Rika continued moving forward and swinging her dagger around erratically, making it easy for Seth to dodge her attacks. He continued floating backwards until he had enough of it.

"Then I'll show you the truth if you refuse to believe," Seth said before slamming a fist into the woman's gut. She coughed hard as the air rushed out of her lungs. She fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around her stomach, "That should keep you in place long enough," he said as he powered up a second tattoo, that being the fairy wings on his back, "Chimera Shift: Seraphim!" he announced. His eagle wings stayed in place, but now above them was a pair of white, angelic wings.

He stood before Rika, practically glowing under the darkened skies of Pluvia, staring down at her with a straight face. Though, his green eyes bore into her with such intensity that she had a hard time looking away. It was hard to deny anything he had told her in that moment. All the things about fairies and her being a queen. How could one deny them when he was looking at her with such honesty and determination?

But then the memory of Madmartigan saving her came back tenfold. That was her first memory since she had awoken to the life she was living now. How could anyone ask her to deny the man that had given her a home for something she didn't believe in? It was almost cruel to ask her to turn away her crew. To turn away the people she had protected these past six years. She just couldn't do it.

Seth gave her one last hard look before turning away from her and moving down to Gamu.

"Sorry for making you wait a bit here," Seth said as he pressed a hand to Gamu's wound. A bright, white light began to emit from his hand and move over the cut, easily healing the shallow slice.

"I still don't believe you," Rika said lowly.

Seth whipped around to face her, "Even in the face of magic coming directly from fairies?!" he shouted, now becoming angry with her constant denial of everything that was staring her straight in the face, "These wings and the healing abilities that come with it are from the fairies themselves. And if that's not proof enough for you, you use their magic too! How can you deny what you yourself use?! You cannot be so foolish or blind! Why do you think it's called Forest Queen Magic?!"

"That's just a name! It means nothing!"

"Stop denying the people that took care of you! Stop denying the people that love you! It's disgraceful!"

"They're. Not. Real!"

As she shouted the last word, she slammed her fists down, causing an eruption of giant roses and tulips to completely circle around them. She then raised her fists upwards, releasing an onslaught of thorns and bullet seeds.

"I am no queen of the fairies!" she continued shouting as she released more and more of the attacks towards Seth and Gamu.

Seth grabbed onto Gamu and threw him onto his back as he took off into the air. Rika had the seeds and thorns following them, but the added speed from the eagle wings kept Seth just ahead of them.

"We gotta stop her. Can you tie down her arms again?" Seth asked, glancing back at Gamu.

"Yeah," he said, popping out more of his needles, "Quills!" he said as he shot the first round at her right arm again.

In her anger, Rika missed the needles and thread coming towards her. They easily wrapped around her arm tightly, only causing her anger to rise more. She tore through the enhanced thread with her dagger, glaring up at the pair again and sending more attacks their way.

"I am a Black Skull!"

"Keep sending needles her way," Seth said as he blew away a large grouping of seeds and thorns with his wings.

Gamu simply nodded his head and shot out another round of needles and thread. They wrapped around her arm again, but this time he sent out another wave of needles to trap her other arm before she cut his threads. He pulled them tightly, easily lifting her off the deck of the ship.

Seth then took off at a high speed as soon as he saw that she was captured, moving out of range of her roses and tulips, "Will you listen to me now?!" he called down to her.

"No! You're just lying! Trying to turn me against my family!"

"That is no family! Your captain is just using you! Hoping that one day you'll open the door to the fairy world so he can invade it!"

"You don't know my captain!"

"He's very bad," Gamu said, "A very bad man."

"He's right!" Seth said, cutting Rika off when she opened her mouth, "Your captain cares for nothing but power. With old worlds come old treasures and old power. He'd toss you aside as soon as he had that!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Why is it so hard for you to see the truth?!"

"No matter what you say, they are my family! You fight for yours, so why is mine any different?! I love them with the same fierceness that you love your own! Why is that so wrong?!"

Seth went quiet. It was hard to tell her she was wrong with a statement like that, but he knew that she was still wrong. Madmartigan was surely using her, keeping her around until the day the door opened for her again to the fairy world. Seth wouldn't be able to live with himself if that really did happen.

In his silence, Rika managed to grab onto the thread and began pulling herself up towards the pair. Gamu's face scrunched up as he began to try to shake her off, but with the threads being tied around her arms and the tight hold she had on them, it was hard to do so.

"Seth. Seth!" he called out, bringing the large man out of his thoughts.

Though, it seemed a second too late as the woman had climbed high enough to have just enough use of her arms to swing the dagger forward, aiming it straight for Seth's chest.

"Pin Cushion!" Gamu said as he summoned dozens of needles and pushed them into the woman's chest. Gamu understood that Seth didn't want to kill the woman, but he wasn't going to let her kill someone he was close to. Seth had quickly become a good friend and he wasn't going to lose him when he could prevent it. He knew how losing someone felt and he never wanted to go through that feeling again.

The needles sunk into her skin, blood seeping out from the holes that were being created. Her eyes widened at the stinging pain, not having expected the second man to react so quickly. She soon released the threads she had been holding onto, her body falling backwards.

Seth's own eyes were wide; the fight having turned in a way that he had been wishing to avoid. He didn't want to kill the woman since he knew what that would do to the fairy world. It would only create chaos and pain for the people that lived there. But he couldn't be upset for the move Gamu had just made. Rika had been aiming to kill him and Gamu had simply protected him. Still, everything had only grown worse throughout the fight with Rika and Seth worried that she would never believe him now.

They watched as Rika fell towards the ground, the threads around her arms loosening at Gamu's will. The roses and tulips on her flower bed moved inwards to catch her before she slammed down onto the deck.

"Queen's Graces," she said as she pulled out a cocoon shaped seed and pushed it into the ground. She normally left this spell to heal her allies, but there were times that called for using it on herself, and this was one of those times. The seed began to grow larger and larger until it was big enough to fit her entire body into it. The cocoon popped open, waiting for her to crawl inside so it could heal her.

Just as her flowers helped her roll into it and it began to close around, Seth floated down to hang just above her. He hoped what he had to say would at least stick with her and have her questioning things.

"If you're so sure about your captain and that fairies don't exist," he said, looking her straight in the eye, "Then go ask him yourself why he had you join his crew."

Rika said nothing and kept her eyes fixed on the large man, but Seth saw something spark in her eyes. He was certain then that his words would stay in her mind for now and that would have to be enough for the time being, especially considering that he and Gamu had been shoved away from her by her flowers; the roses and tulips aiming to hurt anyone that came near their now cocooned master.

**. : + : .**

With every step that Eli took up the stairs, he left behind a melted footprint. But he didn't pay much attention to the path he was leaving, having his focus solely on Roberts.

"I almost beheaded you once. Do you not think I will try for it again?" Roberts asked, having to keep his focus on both John and Eli, making it hard to watch all movements from both men.

"I hope to hell you aren't a one trick pony," Eli huffed, "That would be kinda boring and pathetic."

"Hmm," Roberts hummed, "But if the trick works it would be such a waste not to use it," he said as he held out his sword towards Eli, encasing the blade in his ice again.

"Red Fire's Blazing Sword!" Eli said, a long sword made of his red fire appearing in his right hand. He didn't waste any more time in moving forward to attack Roberts, slicing his fire blade downwards at the man.

Roberts easily deflected the attack, his own enhanced sword slicing Eli's blade in half. Eli only smirked in response as he surged more magic into the sword to repair it, not missing a single beat as he spun to slam the sword into Roberts' side. Roberts managed to block the attack again, though he felt the whoosh of heat that came from the red sword at his side. The two continued this way with their blades of ice and fire slamming into each other and sending up sparks of the burning elements.

Though, their fight was soon interrupted due to the stairs shaking violently. They looked down to see John still slamming his black scythe against the ice, becoming successful in chopping away enough of the ice to have the stairs barely being able to stand on their own.

Upon seeing the stairs swaying, John disappeared into a Void Skip, reappearing in between Roberts and Eli. He swung his blade across Roberts' wrist, causing the man to drop his sword and pull his wrist back in pain from the magic draining damage it had done.

With his good hand, Roberts threw it outwards, "Scatter!" he shouted to the icy sparrows his still had floating behind him. The birds exploded outwards, flying across the ship, hitting any person in their path. Many of the people hit were guild members, causing Roberts to smirk underneath his mask, "Looks like I am going to take some of your people from you today. What do you think of that, Blood Rage John?"

A violent red exploded through his mind again, his anger growing tenfold. John let himself fall into that anger, his steel eyes baring down on Roberts. He swung his scythe backwards, not hearing Eli's shouts of protest and pain as the void weapon traveled through his middle. Eli fell backwards off the stairs, slamming down onto the deck, John never once having taken notice of his current battle partner. Instead, the man continued focusing all his anger and power on Roberts, swinging the scythe forward again and slicing it through Roberts' middle.

Roberts let out a grunt of pain as he stumbled backwards on the stairs. John moved forward on him again, releasing his scythe for now as he grabbed onto Roberts' shoulders and slammed his knee right into his gut.

With all the weight moving to one side of the stairs, they finally began to tip over and fall towards the deck, taking Roberts and John down with them. John kept a tight hold onto the blonde man as they crashed onto the deck, Roberts falling on his back and John plowing his knee deeper into the man's stomach.

Roberts let out a strangled cough, having to take in a large gulp of air afterwards to try and catch his breath. Though, John didn't give him a single second to breathe as he slammed a fist across his face.

"This is what you wanted, right?!" John shouted as he threw another fist across the man's face, "You wanted to me to let go, right?! To be a man like you, right?!" he said as he continued pummeling the man across the face, blood spurting out from Roberts' mouth and nose, "You wanted to see Blood Rage John, right?! Well you have him!" he roared as one particularly hard punch had Roberts' nose crunching in response under it.

"Holy shit! John!" Eli shouted, having forced himself up.

He ignored the numbing pain that the scythe had left behind and launched himself towards the void mage. There was blood everywhere. Across the deck, covering Roberts' face, and all over John's hands. Eli couldn't believe how much there was and that John was still slamming fist after fist against the blonde's face. If Eli didn't do something soon, he was sure that Roberts wouldn't have a face left under all that blood.

"That's enough, John! You made your point!" Eli shouted as he grabbed the man in a chokehold. He pulled tighter and tighter, shocked at how much force it was taking to even slow the man down. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the chokehold started to take effect. John's punching began to slow down until his arms were eventually hanging limply at his sides. The rest of his body soon went limp as he passed out from the hold, Eli finally letting up at that point.

Eli stared down at the bloodied face of Roberts, seeing the man cough up more of the red liquid and hearing him groan in pain. Eli almost felt sorry for the man, but he had been asking for it by egging John on like he had been. The fire mage's head snapped up when a pair of feet appeared next to Roberts. He saw that it was an underling that had come onto the ship with Roberts and Rika. The man looked ready to attack Eli, but there was hesitation in his movements when he saw what Roberts looked like.

"Unless you want to having a matching face to his, I suggest you pick him up and get the fuck out of here," Eli said, glaring hotly at the man.

The nameless man didn't waste any time in grabbing Roberts and making a run for their ship, Eli seeing that someone else had down the same with Rika's cocooned body.

Eli looked back down at the unconscious John laying in front of him, his eyes moving over the man's bloodied hands and over towards the puddle of blood that was now being washed away by Pluvia's constant rain.

"Christ," he muttered as he looked away from the blood and up into the gray skies.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you enjoyed it!

Holy crap! Who knew John had something like that in him! You never know what people are capable of until you push them to their limit. Roberts might have to think again about bringing up John's past in the future!

But I really had a lot of fun writing this chapter with both fights and revealing pieces about John, Seth, and Rika. So I hope you all enjoyed it too!

And CHA! We're over 600 reviews! That's just super awesome! Thanks for sticking with the story! I really am happy to have all you lovely readers and hear from you about the story! I hope you all continue to enjoy the story!

I think that's about it for this time around.

See you all again soon in the next chapter!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	45. An Update

**Hello Readers!**

So I know this probably wasn't the update you expected or hoped for, but I wanted to put an update out on what's been happening.

So for a while now I've had a really bad case of writer's block. There have been brief moments where I thought I broke it only for it to come back after being able to write a chapter or two.

I also believe it came from trying to write too many things at once, so it caused all these ideas to gather, but then nothing to happen since there was just so many things trying to be written at once.

And then I was also not in a good spot in my work life. The position that I had where I work I was just sorta thrown into without having really any say in it along with that position not having any structure whatsoever as it was a new group that was created. So needless to say, I eventually came to very much dislike what I was doing, which made it hard to have motivation for the things I did like. But, this has recently been fixed as I have moved into a new position which I like much better and have since been in a better mood about going into work and being more optimistic about what I do. So this has put me in a better mood altogether.

So with all that being said, I wanted to let you all know why I disappeared for a long while. I didn't want you all thinking that I just up and quit my writing, as I know there have been authors that do that. I still do think about the progress of my stories and I am always writing down ideas. I wanted you all to know that I am still here as an author and still do plan on working on my stories as they are something that I greatly enjoy.

And while I will continue writing for myself, I also wanted to make sure you readers were still interested in my stories as well.

The two stories that I want to return my focus on are Thunder Stone and Storm's Helm, as these two are my babies. There's so much I still want to do in both of them and the characters that have been created for these stories are just freaking amazing! I want to return to a position where I can once again have Thunder Stone Thursdays and Storm's Helm Sundays.

All other stories will have to be put on a hiatus so I can fully focus on TS and SH.

So then, I hope all my past readers continue reading and I welcome any new readers that join along the way.

I will be working on chapters for both TS and SH in the coming week, so please be on the lookout for them

If you have any questions or whatnot, please leave a review or PM me.

See you all soon!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


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